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Binge Drinking Puts Lives at Risk Off the Highways
Legal Age 21 has created an environment of excess consumption and goal-oriented drinking. According to the Center for Disease Control, 18-20 year-olds experienced the steepest increase in binge drinking rates—56%--between 1993 and 2001. Amongst the entire population of underage drinkers (12-20 year-olds, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health), overall rates of binge drinking increased from 15.2% to 18.9% between 1991 and 2003. During the same time period, there was a steady decline in the prevalence of alcohol consumption among 12-20 year-olds. While fewer young people are drinking, those who choose to drink are drinking more, and are doing so at dangerous and alarming rates.
Ninety percent of the alcohol consumed by 18-20 year-olds is consumed when the individual is engaged in an episode of heavy drinking. During these episodes, of which intoxication is the goal, a large quantity of alcohol is consumed in a short period of time, whether through taking shots of hard liquor or playing drinking games. Especially when understood in terms of the effect of large quantities of alcohol on the developing brain, these are alarming statistics, of which tragedy and loss of life are often the result. Over 1,000 lives per year are lost to alcohol off the highways, a figure that has been increasing over the past decade. Alcohol poisoning, in which an individual literally drinks him or herself to death, has become increasingly prevalent amongst young people; the number of alcohol poisoning deaths amongst 18-23 year olds per year showed a steady increase between 1999 and 2005. Of those deaths, 53% were of individuals under the age of 21.
These indicators hardly show that the 21 year-old drinking age and the current approach to educating young people about responsible alcohol use has had the intended effect of reducing the misuse of alcohol among adolescents and young adults.
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Environmental effects on social attitudes
Thanks for making the point that the risks of binge drinking far exceed the carnage on our roads. Drinking to the point of intoxication has become the nomative way young people use the drug, which has far-reaching consequences--even if they survive the episode. The impact of binge drinking on brain development, unwanted pregnancy and STI's and violent incidents should not be overlooked or minimized.
I believe it is the way that this pattern of consumption is depicted in advertising, TV and movies, and other venues influencing popular culture on one hand--and the lack of comprehensive prevention programs on the other hand--that has brought us here. We need to push back against these influences.
Changing attitudes, not lowering the legal drinking age, will help our society to address the problem. We decided as a society years ago that we would not allow tobacco advertisers to glamorize use of this legal drug, and the rate of use among young people declined sharply. We need to make up our minds that alcohol should also not be allowed to be marketed to our kids.
This is a very sharp process
This is a very sharp process that should be implemented in-order to stop the underage alcoholism ratio. Most of the high school students are involving into drugs abuse and other alcoholism issues these days. And yes I agree with Skeptic, drinking to the point of intoxication has become a trend to the young people. Government should really focus on this matter to stop alcoholism around the town and should create public awareness. Instead of promoting alcohols and other drugs, people should be provided knowledge regarding energy drinks which are beneficial to health like, Colloidal Silver, fruit juices and control alcoholism through every possible ways.
Laws need well-defined goals ... (Part 2)
Part 2 of 2
Likewise, if the goal of the legislation is to protect people from harming themselves (binge drinking and dying of alcohol poisoning) then that legislation differs in principle from most other legislation in that we (society) are restricting actions that do not directly harm society. Most laws that attempt to do so are rejected by the Supreme Court for First Amendment reasons.
If you accept that American citizens are adults at the age of 18, and agree that based upon the First Amendment the government should not restrict the actions of individuals that do not pose a direct threat to society, then Legal 21 laws should be struck down as being unconstitutional. Since drinking can be done without becoming intoxicated and without committing crimes its restriction is unfairly punishing individuals who have not committed any crime.
Laws need well-defined goals... (Part 1 of 2)
Part 1 of 2 (cannot fit in 1000 chars)
Laws need well-defined goals that mesh with the tenets of our society AND abide by the restrictions on government found in the Constitution. Even with well-meaning goals a law is still wrong if it fails the second test.
Many of the proponents of the law cite a decrease in criminal activity that was committed while the perpetrator was intoxicated. One possible idea to communicate this fact is to treat crimes committed while intoxicated more harshly than those committed otherwise. This is similar to how a killing committed during the commission of a felony is automatically charged as first-degree murder.
Enforcement of Law
Underage drinkers are afraid to call for help in a crisis in fear of getting repremanded by the police (which they are not sympathetic for) and that taking time away from law enforcement to patrol more dangerous crimes. By having the limit be 21, you are essentially criminalizing an activity that is legal to the rest of the adult world, creating even more of an incentive for underage kids to want to try it. Underage drinking will not go away, and there is a huge difference between 16 and 18. At 18, kids go off to college. Instead of living in a dream world where all rules are followed, you must acknowledge that the system in place right now is unhealthy and is more dangerous than if the drinking age was lowered and drinking was legalized at 18. You're right, the root of the problem is the parents, because they are too ignorant to realize that their children become a part of the real world once they hit 18.
Drinking period puts lives at risk
It is not just a matter of off the Highway. It is every where. "Binge" driking has nothing to do with the law. That is a hypothosis formed by Amythest Initiative. In my opinion, they have taken a bunk of data, combined it, and formed a false conclusion.
As I posted earlier, the statistics for drinking in my community show that the same problem is present among those age 12-16. It does not make any more since to change the legal age from 21 to 18 than it does to change it to 16.
The law is not the root of the problem. You do not solve problems by curing a symptom of the problem. You solve the problem by going to its root. The root is the parents, plain and simple.