Legal Drinking Age example essay topic

Since the states increased their drinking age to 21 in 1987, every citizen of this country between the ages of 18 and 20 have been oppressed by the very people elected to power to protect their rights. It is evident that the legal drinking age among Americans should be lowered to the legal age of adulthood, 18 years. At this age, any American can marry without their Parent's approval and can move out of their guardian's house and live on their own. Why are these adults deprived of their right to consume alcohol?

A police officer unexpectedly arrived at a party where many young adults were drinking alcoholic beverages. He asked to see two young gentlemen's identification to prove that they were of legal age to be consuming. Both were respectable citizens. Neither had caused a disturbance or been involved in any trouble. They both were voters, they were peaceful and respectful, they were both registered for the selective services, as every 18-year-old man is required to do, and both paid their taxes. However, since one of the men was only 20 years of age, he was issued a citation that cost him over one hundred and seventy five dollars and he lost his privileges to drive a car for an entire year.

The other, who was 21, was of course allowed to continue on without further interferences. The issue presented in this scenario is a very serious problem today and threatens the very liberties that make this country so exemplary. There may not be one credible or plausible reason why this age group is lawfully bound from having a beer after graduation or a glass of champagne on their wedding day, yet everyday more and more Americans are arrested or cited for practicing what should be a legal prerogative. Many young adults face these extreme injustices on an account of this unwarranted restriction that so unjustly harasses them. There is a simple and agreeable solution to this matter. The government should revise the law back to what it was years ago.

Most states in the 1970's had a legal drinking age of 18, 19, or 20, the majority of those being 18 years of age. According to Daniel N. Allen, M.A., David G. Sprenkel, M.A., and Patrick A. Vitale, Ph. D., changing the age limit for one to consume alcohol in the eighties was a failure in its mission to control drinking and lower deaths from alcohol related automobile accidents. Statistics have shown that, in fact, the new laws have been counter-effective causing an increase in consumption and abuse, especially on college campuses, by young adults (37). Is it plausible to assume that these adults are going to just give up their civil liberties so easily? "An examination of East Carolina University students' intentions regarding their behavior following passage of the 21-year-age drinking law revealed that only 6% intended to stop drinking, 70% planned to change their drinking location, 21% expected to use a false or borrowed identification to obtain alcohol and 22% intended to use other drugs" (Hanson, "The Legal Drinking Age" par. 4).

The current law is simply not feasible. It infringes upon millions of American's constitutional rights while inadvertently increasing the amount of alcohol that is consumed, and offering a proposed solution that clearly will not be achieved. Others have proposed that it might be more acceptable and reasonable to allow people within the ages 18 and 20 to drink only when in the presence of their legal guardians, but this is obviously not realistic in the least. No parent can be held responsible for their son or daughter to any further extent when they become a legal adult.

Changing the minimum drinking age to 18 is the only honest and justifiable resolution that will be reached. This paper's intention is not to argue that giving 18, 19, and 20-year-olds the right to drink will decrease alcohol abuse and fatalities due to its consumption. It is simply a plea to the American people to appreciate that a blunder has been made and must soon be changed so as to embody the cries of the very citizens their laws govern. The American government tried to contain the use of alcohol by raising the age limit required to purchase and to consume it. The thesis has proven that none of the previous attempts to control alcohol by altering the legal age have been proven sensible or effective. It is evident and proven over and over throughout history that the government has very little impact on how much the American people drink.

Binge drinking soared in the 1930's when prohibition was in effect because people consumed much higher quantities of alcohol whenever they could illegally acquire some. As stated by David J. Hanson, the per capita consumption of absolute alcohol in 1990 was the lowest it had been since 1967 ("The United States" 303). Let us remember that the legal drinking age throughout the seventies was 18. If the level of alcohol has been dropping since the late sixties, despite the current regulations, then why does the government insist on taking the rights of American citizens away? This proposal will clearly not eliminate alcohol usage among younger American citizens, as its intention is not to do so.

It is the only course of action to follow because it is a right that every adult in our nation ought to have. The installation of a new law to lower the drinking age will restore the rights that have been stripped from so many Americans for many years. Why is the age group of eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year olds singled out from the rest of the adults in America when it comes to the drinking laws, but when it comes time to fight a war, they represent the majority of the forces fighting to keep our country safe and to preserve our freedoms? Why not make the legal drinking minimum twenty-five?

After all, persons between the ages of 21 to 25 are responsible for more alcohol related accidents than those between the ages of 16 to 20. Why doesn't the government make it illegal for people over the age of 65 to consume alcohol? They are saying that the elderly, even the extreme elderly, are more prone to making conscientious and responsible decisions than someone who is twenty years of age and in their prime. All Americans must stand up for the rights that they deserve.

The policies set forth by our government are there to protect and to preserve our meticulous way of life. When the government is not protecting the rights of its citizens, reform is most definitely required and so it is needed here. The United States is the only country with a minimum drinking age above 20. It is the highest and most absurd of any state in the world.

Our free country just does not seem so free if its people cannot partake in something as simple as a glass of wine with their dinner. It is time for the American community to regain and to keep hold of their much-deserved rights.

Bibliography

Allen, D.N., Sprenkel, D.G., and Vitale, P.A. "Reactance Theory and Alcohol Consumption Laws: Further Confirmation Among Collegiate Alcohol Consumers". Journal of Studies on Alcohol 55 (1994): 34-40.
Hanson, David J., Ph. D. "The Legal Drinking Age: Science or Ideology". Alcohol: Problems and Solutions. 8 Nov. 2001.
web InMyOpinion / Science Ideology. html. -- -, "The United States of America". International Handbook on Alcohol and Culture. Ed. Dwight B. Heath. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995.