Thesis/ Purpose: During my speech today, I will talk about how alcohol is ever-present in today’s American society. I will also talk about how alcohol is present all around people under 21 who are not allowed to consume it, but in reality most people under 21 drink alcohol and abuse alcohol. Throughout this speech I will try to persuade you to believe that the United States should lower their drinking age to 18, and begin educating teens on consuming alcohol responsibly.…
“We drank when we were young and we grew out of it. It’s just a phase that all students go through.” I can agree to an extent but doing so can also get the person or another innocent person killed. In the 2013 article University Star, author Alexis Acguirre wrote the article “National Drinking Age should be lowered to 18”. The title itself sounds terrifying and unfavorable. I feel as if the author has a careless attitude about this topic and a little selfish due to his comments. Aguirre stresses and keeps restating the fact that people 18 years and older are considered adults and should be treated as such by being allowed to legally purchase and consume alcohol. Aguirre must feel as if there’s not enough dreadful things that underage kids do in this world and feels that his way of handling this situation would be to lower the drinking age. Aguirre states that as soon as a person turns 18 they are considered an adult legally so therefore they should be treated as an adult and should be allowed to consume alcohol. Aguirre also states that an 18 year old legal U.S. citizen can do such things as ink up their body, join the military, vote, and fill their lungs up with smoke and a few other things an 18 legal adult can take action in. She believes that as young adults they can partake in making their own decisions about alcohol. She argues that lowering the drinking age could make it easier to regulate consumption among younger adults as well as encourage healthy drinking habits. If the legal drinking age is lowered, people between the ages of 18 and 20 would be able to drink in safer, more controlled environments. Aquirre is influenced in such a way that lowering the drinking age is the right thing to do because she is convinced that young kids drink anyways so let’s give in to them anyways and make things worse.…
This article talks about the current drinking laws and why they aren’t working effectively, based on statistics. The drinking age has effectively banished alcohol from public places, but it has done little to reduce drinking among teens. A majority of young people start drinking way before the…
It is a psychological fact that the more something is prohibited, the more people are likely to want it, and in this case, teenagers are more drawn to drink alcohol when they are not allowed to, leading to a risk of over intoxication. As it is noted by Dwight B. Heath, an anthropology professor at Brown University, “the younger children are when they start drinking, the safer they go about it” (qtd. in “Colleges Support Drinking Age). This means that if teens are allowed to drink at a lower age, they would less likely abuse the consumption of alcoholic beverages as it will be nothing new to them. In addition, lowering the drinking age would protect teens from malicious people selling alcohol to them. In “Why Colleges Should Support a Lower Drinking Age,” it is argued that alcohol obtained illegally could be “laced with other dangerous substances” if obtained from strangers. Thus, it would be safer to allow teens to purchase alcohol than to expose them to danger. Taking these points into account, it is better to allow young people to lawfully obtain alcohol than to be at risk of the…
There are many problems among teens, however some are becoming more serious than others. Some of these predicaments can cause long term effects for our future generation in numerous ways. One of the main issues among teens is underage drinking. The outcome from this issue may be critical not only for our teen but also for our communities. Some consequences caused from underage drinking are alcohol addiction, medical problems, and accidents.…
Critics argue that teenagers in other countries with a lower drinking age are less likely to binge drink and be dependent on alcohol. However, Shari Roan from the LA Times explains, “…that studies show the younger someone starts drinking, the greater the likelihood of developing alcohol dependence”. Countries with lower drinking ages have had severe problems with binge drinking amongst youth (Roan). This shows that teenagers do know how to drink in moderation. Most teenagers do not drink in moderation or measure their drinking; they drink carelessly to get drunk. Teens are developing their bad habits early on because nobody is teaching them moderation.…
Recently, the current drinking age has become a major topic of discussion amongst Americans with whether it is too old or just right. Recent studies have shown that underage drinking has become a major problem in the United States, not only because it is illegal for them, but because people underage have shown they do not know how to drink in moderation and responsibly. Another reason the current drinking age should be maintained is because drinking has caused many problems on college campuses with the behavior of the students who drink on or near campus. Excessive drinking has caused many students consequences that they would not have had to deal with if they were not under the influence of alcohol is another reason to maintain the current drinking age. Lastly, underage drinkers do not realize the seriousness of drunken driving and seem to be a lot more liberal with driving after…
It is also a time when a teen’s brain is the most susceptible to changes and damage from alcohol abuse. An extraordinary high level of college and high school students drink under the age of twenty-one. Even middle school students have started to drink on a more frequent basis in the U.S. We feel that if we lower the drinking age to eighteen, this will only expose a younger generation to drinking. So instead of the seventeen and eighteen year olds drinking dangerously and illegally now, we will have thirteen and fourteen year olds participating in similar activities. Teens who begin drinking before age fifteen are five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at age twenty-one. It’s not worth the risk to infect the young minds of Americans. Under age drinking is going to happen in the United States, but lowering the drinking age isn’t going to do anything except make it okay for younger Americans to drink. We can’t send children that…
In my opinion, there is not a lot of value and credibility to this article. John McArdell, the President of Middlebury College is the head of a group called Amethyst Initiative. It is a group of 129 college presidents that would like to see the legal drinking lowered to 18 years old. This article lacks credibility as there is no statistical data to support that alcohol abuse and binge drinking would decrease by lowering the drinking age. (The problem isn’t underage drinking per se, according to John McArdell, president emeritus of Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT and spokesman for the Amethyst Initiative. The problem is that underaged drinking is now forced off campus, leading to a “culture of clandestine, binge-drinking”, according to the group’s statement, signed by the 129 college presidents. (Periodicals, 2008))…
Many people say a teen is not responsible enough to drink alcohol so they shouldn’t be allowed to. This argument gets completely erased with the fact that 18 year olds have the ability to serve in the military and can even vote for the countries leader. These two facts alone show that they are responsible enough to make their own decisions as to what the can and want to do. As the responsibility factor…
“Nearly 10 million youths, ages 12 to 20, in this country report they have consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.” (“City Council”) Teens use alcohol for a numerous amount of reasons, ranging from celebration to stress to boredom and underage drinking has now become a hobby done behind closed doors. The legal limit today in the United states has been 21 since the 1984, requiring all states to raise the minimum age for purchase and possession of alcohol to 21, but that is not stopping teens from underage drinking. The Minimum Legal Drinking Age is largely ineffective because teens are going to drink whether it is legal or not. The minimum drinking age limit should be lowered to 18 because 18 year olds are adults, teens would drink in a more controlled manner, and there would be less unsafe incidents.…
“The American Medical Association links drinking to 1,400 deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 sexual assault cases on campuses every year” (USA Today, 2007). This links to my first point that the current drinking age is not solving anything. There are still many problems created by drinking. This is evident in college especially. It is well known that the majority of college students drink, regardless if they are of legal age or not. It has the “forbidden fruit” appeal to a lot of students. This means that the illegal tag placed on alcohol in turn makes kids what to try it and drink. Due to the fact that it is illegal, it causes underage drinkers to binge drink. By doing this they consume large amounts of alcohol. This leads to dangerous behavior and further problems. This is what leads to the statistic mentioned in the beginning of the paragraph. When underage people drink, they normally drink in an uncontrolled environment with no supervision. This scenario is on its way to problems from the…
While some individuals believe introducing alcohol to underage kids while at home reduces the risk of binge drinking, as well as a reduction in the number of regular drinkers, I feel the United States law makers should not be more lenient of underage drinkers nor lower the legal drinking age. Reasoning is due to teens not handling alcohol responsibly, and thus would be more likely to harm or kill themselves or others. Underage drinking is illegal in the United States; it is dangerous, and may lead to alcohol abuse. Respectfully, as a teen turns 18 and enters adulthood, he or she becomes responsible for their own actions, can get married, has the legal right to vote, and enlist in any military branch, but should not be allowed to drink. This debate has many pros and cons as well as raising many questions.…
There will always be people who want to drink underage, and if we were to lower the legal age thinking that we can avoid the problems of dealing with young people drinking, that is wrong. Underage drinking will only get pushed down on to even younger people which is even worse for a 15-year-old to be drinking rather than a 19 or 20-year-old. If not for just the scientific facts of the damage underage drinking does, think back to the proposal at the beginning of this paper, imagine what that would be like to lose a child. I know I would not want to go through that, and I hope you wouldn’t want to…
In the article “_Legal drinking ages throughout the world. Should the US lower the age to 18”_, the author asks should America lower its drinking age to 18. I believe the law should not be changed because there will be an increase of school age kids abusing alcohol. 18 year olds’ are typically still high school students, it is still appropriate for them to hang around other high school students. If they were allowed to legally purchase and consume alcohol, they will also buy or give it to their high school peers. People 14-18 year of age have a higher risk of abusing alcohol because they are new to drinking and do not know how much it too much so many will binge drink. Also around this age their bodies are changing many feel insecure; from the popular kids being worshipped to the others being teased, insecurity can lead to addiction to alcohol.…