Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21?

Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21?

Do you remember your first taste of alcohol? How old were you? Twenty-one? All 50 states currently demand that their citizens reach age 21 before they can legally drink. But there's a growing movement that says mandatory minimum laws may do more harm than good. When determining the right date when a young person can take one of their final steps towards personal responsibility and freedom, what's the right answer?

Next question in Society

  • “Yes”
  • “Objection”
Choose Responsibility

Legal Age 21 Forces Drinking Behind Closed Doors

Choose Responsibility

The 21 year-old drinking age has successfully banished alcohol consumption from public view and public places. But there is no disputing the reality that alcohol consumption continues, often with life-threatening consequences, in clandestine, remote settings away from supervision by parents, residence life staff, and other adult authority figures and usually beyond the effective reach of law enforcement. Proclaiming a campus, or a household, "dry" may seem a virtuous act. But too often such pronouncements simply uproot and transplant the practice and, as a result, worsen the problem and heighten the risk. Research has found both a growing number of college students choosing to attend parties off-campus and a corresponding increase in the number of students consuming five or more drinks while there. Drinking that is not out in the open, and drinking that requires one to find a dark corner or travel to a remote location, is drinking that puts not only the drinker, but also the innocent citizen, at greater risk.

Evidence

IcotextText
Trends in College Binge Drinking During a Period of Increased...
Wechsler, H., Lee, J.E., Kuo, M., Seibring, M., Nelson, T.F. & Lee, H. (2002). Trends in college binge drinking during a period of increased prevention efforts: Findings from 4 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study surveys 1993-2001. Journal of American College Health, 50(5), 203-217.
Post a Comment

Next Argument Previous Next

Drinking Age Before 21?

Loading
  • Yes
  • No
Vote
View Results

Ask Your Friends to Vote

Spotlight

Loading
  • Choose Responsibility
    CHOOSE RESPONSIBILITY is a nonprofit organization founded to stimulate informed and dispassionate public discussion about the presence of alcohol in American... More

Subscribe to Opposing News

Biweekly updates on new debates and experts

Loading
Thank you for signing up

Please check your email to confirm your subscription.