Drinking At 21 Research Paper

Keeping the Drinking at 21
In the world today, the majority of countries has a legal drinking age of eighteen or lower. Unlike many other countries, the United States has a minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one. Although our laws acknowledge that at age eighteen one is an adult who possess sufficient maturity and judgment to operate a motor vehicle, serve in the military, perform jury duty, sign a contract or even get married, those same laws deny that same adult the right to purchase, possess or consume alcohol. And, while this is true, alcohol is already an easy accessible drug that can facilitate not only several detrimental health effects, but it can also create deadly or harmful events for the individual and others which is why
For instances, a typical human brain is not fully developed until a woman is about twenty-three and a man about twenty-five ("Fact Sheets- Alcohol Use and Health"). The primary area that is still growing when an adult is eighteen is the prefrontal cortex which is initially responsible for decision-making, emotional regulation, memory formation, planning and organization ("Mouse Party "). When people drink alcohol, the chemicals that come from alcohol are going straight to a person’s brain. Once those chemical arrive to the brain they basically stop the transfer key chemicals, glutamate and GABA, which makes the brain slow down because they are not getting the chemicals they need. The primary area of the brain where alcohol stops they processes of both glutamate and GABA are found in the prefrontal cortex ("Mouse Party "). This process can explain why people often lose memory of their wild night of fun, or they are more likely to participate in more high risk and irresponsible behavior. When a underage person drinks, their brain could very well suffer irreparable damage that can result in greater vulnerability to addiction and alcoholism, dangerous risk-taking behavior, reduced decision-making ability, memory loss, depression, violence and suicide("Drinking Age"), (“Mouse
While this is very true, many fail to point out that there is more support and police involvement to prevent drunk driving. For instance, many organizations such as MADD (mothers against drunk driving) have become key players in gaining support and encouraging more regulation of under the influence to driving. Many states have also lowered the alcohol intake that a person can consume before they are considered unsafe to drive (“Drinking Age”). For example, in California the real drunk driving limit is .08 blood toxicity levels, but even if a person is below a .08, but they are still above .01 then that individual is still considered under the influence and they are still given a ticket (Fell). In addition to the dangers of the roads for that are associated with drinking and driving. In reality with the laws that have been instilled car accidents related to drinking and driving have been reduced. For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that MLDA 21decreased the number of fatal traffic accidents for 18- to 20-year-olds by 13% and saved approximately 27,052 lives from 1975-2008. On a related note, 76% of bars have sold alcohol to obviously intoxicated patrons, and about half of drivers arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) or killed as alcohol-involved