Ethan Marshal Slattery

14 Oct 2009

Eng 120-2

Ms. Vicki Pierce

Drinking Age Rough Draft

"We trust you to have sex, get married, start a family. We trust you to drive a car on

streets with millions of other people. We trust you to vote for this country's government. We

even trust you in a tank. You just can't have a beer." The American government’s stance on

alcohol consumption is ridiculous. The legal drinking age is set at twenty-one, but I do not

understand why. At the age of eighteen, an individual legally becomes an adult and is able to

perform all the functions that come with adulthood−all of them except drinking and running for

the presidency, that is.

In most countries worldwide, the age limit for drinking is set at eighteen. This is logical,

as it lowers the age restriction to encompass those with a reasonable level of maturity. Preventing

people from the ages of eighteen to twenty from drinking alcohol is essentially reducing them to

a lower class of citizenship, which should be unacceptable in a country that boasts of its freedom.

Reducing the legal age would also serve to diminish alcohol as a taboo. Lowering the age

limit lowers the appeal. Part of the reason underage drinking occurs is the glamour that

accompanies the act. If the reduction of dangerous alcohol consumption is the desired outcome,

then education on responsible drinking should be provided as opposed to the outright banning of

the practice.

Alcohol consumed in large doses is generally considered to be unhealthy, and that is an

unarguable fact. However, this is not a solid reason to uphold the standard of twenty-one, as
there are many other harmful substances that are perfectly legal to young adults of eighteen to

twenty, such as cigarettes and fast food. People have the right to harm their own health through

these means if they choose to.

In the 1970’s, twenty-nine states lowered their drinking age. In the following years,

traffic related fatalities increased and the states reinstituted the MLDA(Mandatory Legal

Drinking Age) to twenty-one with the passing of the Uniform Drinking Age Act.

However, if these statistics prove that alcohol abuse leads to traffic accidents, then why is

alcohol consumption legal at all? If Prohibition was re-enacted, surely more lives would be

saved. Still, a right would be denied, even if in the pursuit of reducing traffic-related deaths. It

stands to reason that Prohibition was tried once, failed, and would fail again if tried today. Adults

have the right to drink responsibly. All adults should have the right and that right should not be

refused, even if they cause harm to their health because of it.

Lowering the drinking age would only allow those adults−who should have the right the

right to drink−to do so and enjoy the experience entitled to them as responsible citizens of the

United States, even if it endangers their own health. When their actions begin to infringe on the

rights of others, action should be taken. For now, though, drink and be merry.