So yesterday on my daily scroll of CNN I came across an article about some colleges and universities that hope to change the legal drinking age to 18 from 21. I think this is a bad, bad, bad idea. So I spoke to some of my friends and got their opinions on it-surprisingly many of them supported the idea, for a number of reasons. Many of them said that sure, since people sneak and do it or because if you can vote you can drink. If you can enlist you can drink. The universities that support this idea feel that by lowering the drinking age they will reduce instances of binge drinking.
I have a counter argument for each of those proposed reasons for supporting the reduction in the drinking age. While my logic may be flawed, it is still my opinion and I will try to explain it as best as I can. Let’s go.
So because people sneak and do it we should allow it? Last I knew, sneaking things was a part of growing up. You have not had a full adolescent experience unless you were sneaking something. And if you lower the drinking age to 18 you will have more people actually in high school drinking. Can you imagine 18 year old high school seniors (and juniors) drinking with 14 year old freshmen. I take peace of mind knowing that if my high school student is going to sneak and drink they worked hard their efforts to deceive me. An 18 year old is more likely to buy liquor for that underage 16 year old. A 21 year old, sure they may support their 18 year old friends drinking but not someone as young as 16. Because face it, in America there are a large portion of teenagers who are around 16 who are going to parties and drinking. But just because they do it, doesn’t mean we should condone it.
As far as being able to vote or enlist therefor you should be able to drink at 18, I cannot agree with that. Well, first things first. I don’t agree that 18 year olds should be able to enlist. They make these decisions very blindly, and recruiters prey on young high school kids with the promise of a free college education if they enroll for some fake ass sense of patriotism. It is bullshit. Perhaps that is why I don’t think its just to say if you can enlist you can drink. Because a lot of 18 year olds who enlist do regret it and are just there serving out what they’ve locked themselves into.
People are more informed when casting a ballot than they are about the consequences of drinking. I bet if I asked an 18 year old about Barack they could answer that more quickly than what are the repercussions of alcohol poisoning is or what the legal limit is when it comes to drinking and driving. It is about awareness.
The colleges that are pushing for the Amethyst Act are not doing so from an altruistic point of view. They are looking to alleviate their liability in instances where drinking occurs on campus. It is easier to fight for the lowering of the drinking age than to police students more heavily. No one wants to be the bad guy. Let’s talk about teens and driving. Teens are responsible for a large number of accidents. Lowering the drinking age will lead to more instance of accidents and higher rates of drunk driving. Because face it, teenagers think they are indestructible. Hell, sometimes I do at my age. Expect to see drunkteens, texting and driving while smoking a cigarette talking to their friends in the car.
But I do know who is in favor of this.. call Anheuser-Busch and see if they object.
Actually, lowering the drinking age to 18 is a brilliant idea. First off, it will be chaos the first few years, but after that it will be overall better for society then keeping it at 21. If the drinking age is 18 your family can teach you to drink in moderation, etc. Many people say when they turn 21 its not fun to get smashed anymore, so they don’t. If that has the same effect on 18 year olds than that is good.
This is not all about liability, that just what the liberals are using as an excuse not to lower it.
i think lowing the drinking age back to 18 because if you are able to vote, go to war or have most of there rights at age 18 why not drink at 18 or is it because they dont trust us becuase we are still teen at age 18? why can’t they trust drinking at 18 whne we are allow you to have a license at age 16 why can’t we drink at 18?