John LaBonte

Mrs. Lesa Seibert

Writing and Grammar 12

07 December 2016

Lowering the Drinking Age to 18

Alcohol has been around for thousands of years, and in most societies the government

has put an age limit on the use of it. In the United States, the legal age for drinking is 21 years

old, however some people want to lower the age to 18. By lowering the drinking age, the United

States would have to deal with increased drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and more destructive

behavior.

First of all, if the United States lowered the legal age to 18, there would be more teen

deaths due to drunk driving. In fact, car crashes is the number one cause of death for teens.

Currently, according to www2.courtinfo.ca.gov, about eight tends dies every day is DUI crashes,

including underage and legal age drunk drivers. Even though teens only make up around ten

percent of the drivers U.S., they make up 17% of crashes right now. If the United States lowered

the limit, number of potential drunk drivers out onto the roads would increase exponentially and

thus would endanger more citizens.

Secondly, lowering the age limit to 18 would cause more teens to die from alcohol

poisoning. Although its illegal, many college students hold drinking parties where one can drink

as much as he desires without having to worry about obtaining it. At these binge-drinking parties,

some students drink to the point where they become so drunk that they slip into comas. If the

United States made alcohol legal for them, there would be a huge increase of alcohol available

on college campuses and most likely would end up at these parties. And if more students end up
at these college parties, then we run the risk of having more teenagers get drunk and slip into

comas, which is something that the U.S. cannot allow.

Finally, the United States should not lower the age limit to 18 because alcohol is often the

course for destructive behavior in teenagers. According to a study ran by Johns Hopkins

Bloomberg School of Public Health, alcohol is associated with an increased risk of hazardous

sexual behavior, academic failure, drug abuse, and alterations to the structure and function of the

brain. If the United States lowered the age, they would be enabling millions of teenagers to

obtain access to alcohol, thus increasing the chances of violent behavior. This behavior manifests

itself through larceny, arson, rape, etc.

In conclusion, the United States cannot lower the drinking age to 18. First of all, drunk

driving would be a bigger issue than it is currently. Furthermore, it would increase the number of

deaths/illnesses due to alcohol poisoning, esp. in teenagers. Finally, it would only encourage

more destructive behavior by teens. For these reasons, it is clear that the United States should

keep the legal drinking age at 21.