Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered?

As people grow, they are faced with certain responsibilities and choices they must make. Young people are often regarded as irresponsible and not able to decide on their own for the most part. In the United States, it is not until the age of 21 that young adults are seen as mature people to make life changing decisions. It is not until this age that people are allowed legally drink. However, this law is most times ignored as teens involve in drinking behavior at a much earlier age. On the other end, at a much younger age, they are allowed to choose a president and die for their country. The fact that young people are not allowed to celebrate the 4th of July with a drink, but have full consent to give up their lives at war is a puzzling concept
It is a psychological fact that the more something is prohibited, the more people are likely to want it, and in this case, teenagers are more drawn to drink alcohol when they are not allowed to, leading to a risk of over intoxication. As it is noted by Dwight B. Heath, an anthropology professor at Brown University, “the younger children are when they start drinking, the safer they go about it” (qtd. in “Colleges Support Drinking Age). This means that if teens are allowed to drink at a lower age, they would less likely abuse the consumption of alcoholic beverages as it will be nothing new to them. In addition, lowering the drinking age would protect teens from malicious people selling alcohol to them. In “Why Colleges Should Support a Lower Drinking Age,” it is argued that alcohol obtained illegally could be “laced with other dangerous substances” if obtained from strangers. Thus, it would be safer to allow teens to purchase alcohol than to expose them to danger. Taking these points into account, it is better to allow young people to lawfully obtain alcohol than to be at risk of the
Several Europeans countries that do not fallow a strict law on the drinking age have shown that lowering it can be beneficial. In her article, “Lowering the Legal Drinking Age Will Reduce Alcohol's Allure”, Ruth Daily, a staff writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, notes that a “recent European Union study reveals that the countries where moderate daily drinking is the norm (Italy, Spain and France) have the fewest binge drinkers (2 percent, 2 percent and 8 percent, compared to 34 percent in Ireland and 27 percent in Finland)”. This evidence further adds to the notion that if drinking is allowed, teens can learn to manage their drinking habits and learn how to moderately consume