Lowering The Drinking Age To 21 Essay

All 50 US states have set their minimum drinking age to 21. It has been a debate across the country since the rule was set in place. Should the drinking age be lowered or not? I believe that the age should not be lowered because teenagers have been proven time and time again to be very irresponsible. At the age of 21 they are officially adults and are more mature than when they were 18. Therefore, they can make smarter decisions like non-drinking and driving. Too many accidents happen because of underage drinking and drunk driving. There are several other reasons why lowering the drinking age should not be supported. One of which is that it encourages drinking at a younger age. If the drinking age went to 18, then the other children of 17 and 16, who already think they are grown up, would think that it is ok to drink. Some of them might even argue that they are as mature as an 18-year-old and that they should be allowed to drink. Of course this will never happen because at the age of 17 and 16 they are still just kids and kids should not be allowed to drink. These children brains are still developing and for people to give them alcohol, it can affect the growth and/or have long term affects too. Alcohol can also cause liver damage in them at an early age, and by the time they are 25 to …show more content…
Teens who drink are most likely to engage in unprotected sex or even sex with a stranger, which will cause them to get an STD or pregnant. Some teens even start abusing drugs such as marijuana or heroine. “Drinking and drug use may end poorly for a lot of Americans. A new study shows that by the time most teens reach late adolescence most of them have drunk alcohol and abused illegal substances.” (CBS NEWS) If the legal drinking age was lowered this will be happening to a lot more kids, and we have to do something about