When considering the current drinking age, we must question the effectiveness of the current law that is in place and consider changing the drinking age from 21 to 18 in the United States. Lowering the drinking age to an age where young adults could drink while still living at home could promote more responsible drinking habits later in life.
In a Britannica article about the pros and cons of lowering the drinking age, some cons consist of the fact that people are more mature at the age of 21 than the age of 18, a large majority of Americans support the legal drinking age being 21, lowering the drinking age would give young adults access to night clubs and bars which are unsafe environments, and lowering the drinking age will give people younger than 18 easier access to alcohol. With this, there are pro arguments that will outweigh the cons in this situation.
The argument that people are more mature at the age of 21 could be invalidated by the fact that when Americans turn 18, they will legally be allowed to vote in elections, represent themself in a court of law, serve on a jury, drive a car, serve in the military, and own a property. By this logic, you are mature enough to live completely independently but not old enough to have a drink. Another argument against lowering the drinking age is a large majority of Americans support the drinking age being 21, but along with this, it is unstated whether or not Americans are educated enough on the subject to hold an opinion. It is stated in the Britannica article that a majority of countries with a legal drinking age of 18 have fewer drunk driving accidents than America, where the legal drinking age is 21. A last argument stated is that lowering the drinking age will give 18-year-olds access to bars and nightclubs, which are unsafe environments. The fact that bars and nightclubs can be unsafe environments is true, but lowering the drinking age will eliminate the thrill of drinking and end up changing the environment of bars and nightclubs from places where people drink a lot to places where people casually drink with their peers.
Anthony Molyneux, an immigrant from England, where the drinking age is 18, also believes that the drinking age should be lowered. When asked how drinking culture was different between America and England, Molyneux said, “In England, drinking culture is much more of a social event. Very few people drink at home,” He also included the fact that in England, there is not only an abundance of public transportation but a pub or bar within walking distance in about every town. This is not the case in America and, therefore, makes it more difficult to use bars to broaden your social circle like they do in England.
On the contrary, Jen Chew believes there is absolutely no way that the legal drinking age should be changed at all. Chew’s brother died from a drug overdose that started from his drinking at a young age. When asked if there was any solution she could think of when it came to lowering the drinking age, Chew said, “Absolutely not. I strongly believe alcohol is just another gateway drug that will lead kids to abusing drugs later in their life.” Along with this, Chew added that most people seem to forget not only is alcohol a drug, but it causes major brain damage when drunk at too young of an age.
Psychology professor Laurence Steinberg at Temple University has studied the subject and created a solution. He believes that lowering the drinking age to just 19 would be the best possible solution for both sides. Though this will eliminate young adult’s ability to learn responsible drinking habits at home, it will get rid of any worries that kids younger than 18 will have easier access to alcohol. This also allows police to focus on more important things while on a college campus. When half the students can legally drink and the other half cannot, it is hard to spot who is breaking the law. If police know all students are legally drinking, it allows them to focus on finding irresponsible drinkers, making the area they are in safer.
Sources
https://brilliantmaps.com/drinking-age-europe/
https://drinkingage.procon.org/
https://alcohol.org/laws/underage-drinking/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-debate-on-lowering-the-drinking-age/
