The Drinking Age In America Should Remain At Age Twenty-one
Did you know that there were 37,133 people that died in the year 2017 and ten thousand of those were due to drunk driving. According to the Free Dictionary by Farlex, “abusive behavior is a term for various behaviors which may be aggressive, coercive or controlling, destructive, harassing, intimidating, isolating, or threatening”. If the age stuck at twenty-one for drinking, the brain would be mostly developed and abusive behavior could be prevented. So the drinking age should remain at age twenty-one because one's brain must be fully developed, individuals often circumvent the law and societies as a whole benefit from higher drinking ages.
The first reason the drinking age should stay at the age of twenty-one is the brain must be fully developed to handle the concept of drinking. In this case, the study 'Effects of Alcohol on the Teenage Brain You need to know.” A twenty-one year with a history of drinking underage has more “Holes” than a twenty-one-year-old that has never drunk before in his or her life in other words he or she stayed sober his or her life. Holes are when you are drinking underage and the alcohol travels to your brain and damages or kills neurons according to alcoholrehabguide.org.
This makes it harder to comprehend and learn. Sober means not affected by alcohol. You can see the differences between the two brains below on these brain scans. Within the article “Drinking and Driving (DUI)” the effects on the brain are slow reaction, reduced concentration, lack of coordination, decreased vision, and inhibit judgment. These effects can sometimes be long term if alcohol is consumed often. Even worse these effects can cause injuries to the drunk person's friends and families
These effects can lead to distracted driving as well. To point out cdc.gov has shown that because of these distractions, driving deaths have occurred. Even if major consequences do not occur you may still be put in jail, lose your driver licenses for a short amount of time or permanently, and loved ones may not want to hang around you anymore.
For one thing now that people have seen these effects they have taken it into consideration. So the numbers of drunk driving have been cut down a little. Although people are now recognizing these consequences it is still the leading cause of death in the United States. So we need to become even more aware of these kinds of deaths. To sum it all up people that are at the age of twenty-one or older can handle drinking better than underage drinkers.
The next reason that the drinking age should remain at age twenty-one is that individuals often circumvent the law. Certain statistics from “CBSnews.com” show that seventy-eight percent of teens in the United States have said they have tried alcohol under the age of twenty-one. Forty-one percent of teens from seventy-eight percent had consumed a drink every month. This shows that teens do not really care that there is a law for drinking and they drink anyways. In the article from the website “blog.lt.vt.edu”, it mentions that there are exceptions for drinking underage. Almost all allow consumption underage with parental vision, twenty-nine states allow consumption on private property, twenty-five allow consumption for religious reasons, and eleven allow consumption educational purposes. Although there are these exceptions it is still illegal to be underage and drinking in public. This website also says that if eighteen-twenty-year-olds were supervised then drunk related actions would be deducted but based on the first reason that the drinking age should remain the same shows that the deaths have remained around the same for the past couple of years. If you are a continuous drinker there are chances of habits to occur. See the things is if you begin drinking in your teen years you have a higher chance of becoming an alcoholic. As stated in the research of the “Alcohol Addiction Center” teenage binge drinkers have a higher chance of becoming depressed and or abusive. Depression is a time in a person's life where they feel lonely and sad. When under the influence of drinks you can be the victim or offender of abuse. According to “FindLaw.com” If you or the abuser commit abuse twice in a twelve-hour period you will be arrested. If you commit abuse against a child and go to jail you may get beat up by other jail members if they find out. So if you decide to circumvent the law and drink underage do it on private property and if you are mature enough to handle it.
Although most countries have a lower drinking age, societies benefit more if the age is higher. This happens because the older you are when you begin drinking the more mature you and your brain as mentioned earlier. The website “bu.edu” states NMDAA has saved 17,000 lives in America since 1988. NMDAA stands for National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which changed the age from eighteen to twenty-one. This act has saved 17000 people may be one of those people invented something incredible or life-changing. Others may argue that it is okay to drink underage. In fact, the author Jeffery A. Tucker questions how come most European countries have a lower drinking age and they are getting by just fine so why can't we just be like them. Well first of all America is different and that is why we are so beneficial. Second of all, most countries have a lower drinking age have not been very successful.
The last reason that the drinking age should remain at age twenty-one is that society’s benefit as a whole, the higher the age is. In the article “fee.org” shows a picture of all ages around the world. Countries with a lower drinking age have a higher chance of poverty and violence. For example, North Korea and northwestern Africa because they both have no drinking age so you can drink whenever you feel like it which is unhealthy for the body. On the other hand, America and Japan have high drinking ages which makes them some of the most successful countries in the entire world. This also depends on what age you are considered an adult. In the United States, you are able to get partial adult privileges and when you become the age twenty-one you become a full adult and have privileges to do anything you want that is legal. Within the article “Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond Teen Years” teaches us that twenty-one is closer to twenty-five (when the brain is fully developed) than eighteen. Eighteen is seven years away from twenty-five and these seven years can determine what or where your future is or takes you. If you drink at the age of eighteen you could mess up your perfect future and become the worst version of yourself.
Based on information from earlier you are more mature at the age of twenty-one than the age of eighteen. Most people mature very well in the span of those three years. If you wait to mature before you begin drinking you may be the next Steve Jobs.
So if you follow the law and do not circumvent it your society will benefit and your brain will be mostly developed and healthy so your brain could handle drinking. It is important that you wait until age 21 to drink because as stated earlier in this paper eighteen is seven years before your brain is fully developed, and those seven years can determine your job and healthiness and overall the rest of your life. Even though people are famous they have at one point in their life have struggled with alcoholism such as Billy Joel a famous singer, Betty Ford a president’s wife, and Stephen King a famous author. So all in all if you want to try a drink under the age of 21, don’t do it in public, while driving a car or motorcycle, or if you are too immature because your brain will not handle it as well as it would if it was mature.
