Not lower drinking age

By ABby
Not Lowering Drinking Age

“Approximately 92% of U.S. adults who drink excessively report binge drinking in the past 30 days (Fact Sheets).” The local government should not lower the drinking age to 18 because lowing this effect the frontal lobes development, there would be more ‘binge drinking’, and there would be more alcohol-associated violent behavior. But if the local government were to lower the drinking age, there would be less of a thrill.
According Christian Moyer research, “"We know alcohol is toxic to the brain itself. Now we also know it interferes with the [brain's] development," said the policy's lead author Patricia Kokotailo, MD, MPH, a member of the AAP's Committee on Substance Abuse.” Moyer also state that the frontal lobes are necessary for planning, organization and controlling emotions. The frontal lobes are not done growing until young adulthood. Also stated in the article Teen Alcohol, alcohol interferes with the brains development. Karen Arnold-Burger said that the brain is not fully developed until about the age 25.Until the brain reaches 25 years of age, the person will want to engage in thrill seeking activities. ” Alcohol impairs judgment and heightens risk-taking behavior as well as slowing perceptual and motor skills, so given to a person who has an immature brain function in these areas already, research shows that the effects are even more exaggerated.(Arnold-Burger)”
Everybody knows what binge eating is, but do they know what binge drinking is? According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) article called “Fact Sheets – Binge Drinking”, binge drinking is when a person drinks enough alcohol to bring their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) up to 0.08 grams percent or more. For women this typically happens when she has more than three drinks in about two hours, while for men it takes them to have more than four drinks in two hours. Being a binge drinker does not mean that a person is an alcoholic. Also stated in the same article, “While binge drinking is more common among young adults aged 18–34 years, binge drinkers aged 65 years and older report binge drinking more often—an average of five to six times a month.”
In Catherine West’s article “The Effect of Alcohol on Aggression”, University of Kentucky psychologist Peter Giancola says that one theory about alcohol and aggression is that drinking messes up part of the brain that is used to focus on the things around us. “When we can only focus on a fraction of what's going on around us,” says West, “the theory holds drunks narrow their social vision, concentrating myopically on provocative cues and ignoring things that might have a calming or inhibiting effect.” It was also stated in her article that alcohol has the potential to increase and decrease aggression depending on where one’s attention is focused.
If the government would lower the drinking age, the thrill of under aged drinking would be gone. The local government should not lower the drinking age to 18 because there would be more alcohol-associated violent behavior, there would be more ‘binge drinking’, and lowing this effect the frontal lobes development.

Cites
Fact Sheets-Binge Drinking - Alcohol. CDC, 7 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2013
Moyer, Christian S. Teen alcohol use interferes with brain development. amednews.com, 10 May 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Arnold-Burger, Karen. The Top 5 Reasons We Should Keep The Drinking Age at 21. Regional Prevention Center, 26 Aug. 2008. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
West, Catherine. The Effect of Alcohol on Aggression. MNT, 22 July 2007. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.