Lower the drinking age — we’re gonna drink anyways
At 20 years old, an American can drive a car, buy cigarettes and pornography, vote for the next leader of the free world, and even die for his or her country by enlisting in the military. But that same person cannot order a beer with friends while watching the game at a sports bar. Because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, some Americans can put themselves in front of terrorists with machine guns, but not a Heineken.
Most proponents of the legal drinking age of 21 use the dramatic decrease in traffic fatalities and drunk driving that have occurred since 1984 as a cornerstone argument. According to the Century Council, an organization founded to prevent drunk driving, underage drunk driving fatalities decreased from 5,655 in 1986 to 2,642 in 2006.
This 54 percent drop in drunk driving deaths is important, but attributing the decrease solely to the drinking age ignores other factors contributing to the drop in deaths. The Ad Council, along with the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) launched a nationwide campaign to educate citizens on the dangers of drunk driving in 1983. According to a press release, the “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk” campaign of 1990 resulted in a 10 percent drop in drunk driving rates among 16-24 year olds, the largest annual drop yet recorded.
In addition to the landmark ad campaign, driving on U.S. highways changed dramatically in 1974 as well. The National Maximum Speed Law, part of the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, prevented much death on U.S. highways, and the New York Times reported that 45,000 lives had been saved by 1984. This sharply decreased traffic fatalities, and clouds the statistics about the benefits of the drinking age.
Furthermore, resources are wasted on trying to prevent underage drinking. It is impossible to stop underage people from drinking. Even Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) admit that only 31 percent of parents of 15- to 16-year-olds believe their child had a drink in the past year, compared to the 60 percent of teens in that age group who reported drinking.
The most reliable way to reform underage drinking is to decrease the amount of people who are legally underage. By lowering the drinking age to 18, still higher than most countries in the world, we could decrease the number of “minor in possession” cases greatly. According to Jeralyn Merritt, a writer for the politics magazine TalkLeft, the “juvenile courts are jammed with ‘minor in possession’ cases. If they weren’t, they might have more time and funds to deal with the kids with more serious issues.”
If the amount of money that was spent prosecuting 18 to 21-year-olds was spent on alcohol education in schools or on assistance for low-income families who are much more likely to abuse alcohol, we might get somewhere. By preventing the problem through alcohol education, rather than treating the symptoms of a too-high drinking age, countless dollars and hours could be saved.
In response to growing numbers of college students participating in binge drinking — defined as five (for men) or four (for women) drinks within a one-to-three-hour period — heads of major universities across the country have advocated lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. The Amethyst Initiative, signed by 130 universities (at press time) including Johns Hopkins and Dartmouth, encourages the lowering of the drinking age to cut down on “a culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking, often conducted off campus,” according to an official statement.
While Northwestern has yet to endorse the Amethyst Initative, it cannot be ignored that binge drinking happens here, on and off campus. The most recent, startling and tragic example of this is the death of Matthew Sunshine (SESP ‘11) last June.
Though it is impossible to stop all dangerous drinking, lowering the drinking age would help to decrease the number of binge drinkers in a way that alcohol education has not. By removing the stigma of underage drinking, especially for college students, drinking may become less of a sport and, consequently, much less dangerous.
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Point, meet counterpoint. Or you can return home.
agreed.
christine
September 19, 2008 at 2:59 pm
It’s anyway, not anyways
AP style
September 19, 2008 at 3:10 pm
My biggest issue with the current drinking age is that it assumes guilt before any crime is committed, but only for a select group of citizens. It’s not only teens who drive drunk – adults who can legally drink do as well. So, why not ban drinking for all ages if your argument is primarily based on the fact that teens do stupid things when drunk? Adults aren’t immune to doing stupid things while drinking either.
And you can’t say that teens just don’t know how to handle their alcohol – that’s postulation and just flat out unfair. If drinking were legal and they could drink in bars and restaurants with their parents, there would be plenty of opportunities for parents and other adults to legally and safely educate their kids before they’re out of their supervision.
Overall, it’s not the age limit itself that annoys most college kids. It’s the unfair and poorly based argument for the law itself.
elaine
September 19, 2008 at 6:30 pm
When I was a student at NU back in the late 70’s, (yeah, times were different), the drinking age was 18. We drank at fraternity band parties, went out for pizza and beer, chugged for charity on Sigma Chi’s porch. I don’t remember there being a binge drinking problem. Maybe I was too drunk. Not really, I just got too drunk once a quarter to remind myself why I didn’t do it more often. Before I went to college, my parents had a “No Alcohol” policy. I drank too much as a freshman, didn’t know my limits and did stupid things. My children (two currently in college) have drunk in our home since they were young teenagers. They were taught the difference between responsible use of a mind altering substance (yes, don’t all girls look better after you have had a few drinks) and abuse of it. They were also drinking very high quality beers and wine. If you get your kids used to beer and wine as a taste sensation, they appreciate it for more than it’s alcohol content. If parent were able to teach their children about responsible drinking, by example and letting their kids drink too, the problems they would encounter when they get to college would be far fewer.
mary
September 22, 2008 at 5:29 pm
doesn’t matter to me either way-alcohol is disgusting. the taste of beer makes me gag, so why would i drink it? they could bring back the amendment to outlaw alcohol and i wouldn’t care.
Jason
September 30, 2008 at 11:10 am
i agree lower the drinking age to 18 im going join the army soon if we are an adult at 18 we should drink we are not adults at 21
laura sauer
September 30, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I’m 45. When I was in school,I drank. My firends drank, we killed no one. I believe if you are old enough to fight for your country, your are old enough to buy alcohol.
Iris
November 6, 2008 at 6:53 am
No one ever seems to point out the medical reason for the age 21 limit. The earlier you start drinking (or whatever), the more dependent you are on it. But by age 21, your brain has stopped developing.
Kat
November 6, 2008 at 9:10 am
i agree with lower the drinking age. because i am 18 and i drink every once in awhile. and a whole bunch of my friends do. adn we do it to have a good time. and it should be lower because then people wont be going angansit the law or anything. and it would help people stay out of jail and wouldnt have people go to jail like they do know for drinking. and like people say that you are adult when you trun 18 with voting going in the army or something like that.
kendra
February 24, 2009 at 8:04 am
Actually, your brain doesn’t stop developping until age 25. But I believe in free choice. If you want to kill brain cells, by all means…
Kaitlyn
February 24, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Drinking is over rated cause it’s not about being an adult it’s more about knowing the responceability, and Accepting it. I drink socially and, i font act out do to (cause and effect) Adult’s should act as adult’s.When you are a child you do childish things and when you become and adult you put away childish things…………I’am 25 think about what i got here and it will carry you along way in life…
Jaimario
April 5, 2009 at 7:12 pm
People of all ages drink. The age limit won’t really make a difference. High School students still find alcohol for parties…
Age Empire Lucus
April 12, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I started drinking wine at age 12. My family would let me under their supervision and nothing bad happened. It was not as if I was downing drink after drink, it was simply with dinner, or with the family and a decent amount for a 12 year old. As I got older, they became more liberal with letting me drink. I’m now 19. Whenever we would have parties over the years, my fam would bring the drinks and we’d all drink and party, which made me feel responsible, and matured as a teen. The drinking age would be best suited at age 18, for obvious reasons. I don’t see the point in having it at 21. We all are going to drink anyway. You mine as well let us pay for it ourselves.
ThisGirlThat
August 21, 2009 at 6:51 pm