Lovelife’s Weblog

Eighteen year olds are considered legal adults in the United States, so they can therefore get a passport, adopt a child, get married, buy a home, earn a pilot’s license, purchase a shotgun, become a minister, serve as a volunteer firefighter, pay taxes, and even serve, fight, and die in the military.  The adults that can and in some cases must fulfill several of these responsibilities and countless others are forbidden by law to purchase alcohol.  I feel that it is unreasonable that adults who are completely responsible for themselves are considered too young to order a glass of wine with dinner or drink a can of beer on their own home.  There are numerous reasons why the drinking age in the United States should be lowered from twenty-one years of age to eighteen. American adults are required to make many important short term and long term decisions about their lives.  They need to make decisions regarding their careers, finances, political stance, and their own personal health among other things.  Adults are forbidden from making one simple choice for themselves and that is the choice to whether they want to consume alcohol or not. I am aware that there are a number of problems associated with drinking alcohol in general.  Consuming too much can lead to health issues and even in extreme cases death.  Also judgment and some physical abilities are impaired when a certain amount is consumed.  Other issues such as drinking and driving are a serious problem in this country as well.  A thirty-five year old is just as likely as a twenty year old to drink and drive.  Individuals need to be responsible for themselves, so it is unfair to assume that adults under the age of twenty-one are more prone to drinking to the point where it causes problems.  Opponents to lowering the drinking age constantly argue basing their argument on the number of fatal traffic accidents and other major issues associated with drinking.  These issues are caused by binge drinking.  I am not arguing that eighteen year olds should be able to drink an unreasonable and dangerous amount.  I simply feel that even though there are problems associated with drinking, all adults still reserve the right to make the right decisions, control the amount of alcohol that they drink, and even make the occasional mistakes associated with drinking.Another issue caused by drinking is alcoholism.  In other countries there are many less cases of alcoholism and other problems caused by alcohol.  In most of these countries the drinking age is eighteen, lower than eighteen, or even does not exist.  Because American society portrays drinking as a taboo activity, young people are curious as to why drinking is discussed in such a negative light.   I feel that the high drinking age actually leads to young people under eighteen to want to drink even more and therefore leads to more problems.  Overall lowering the drinking age would be very positive for society.Legal, supervised drinking by adults under the age twenty-one in restaurant and bar settings would cause fewer problems.  The drinking age leads to students drinking in dorm rooms and in the basements of parties.  In these locations drinkers are more likely to get out of control and cause harm to themselves or others.  In bars, if a patron reaches a certain level of intoxication the employees of the bar are able to warn the patron that it would be safe if they slowed the rate at which they were drinking.  A bartender could even stop serving the patron or help them if they are having problems relating to alcohol.  On the other hand when eighteen year olds secretively drinking at party there is not adult or employee to slow the rate at which anyone is drinking, if need be.