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OHS Tiger Talk: The Legal Drinking Age — Imbecilic or Indispensable?
Posted by:
Our Towns Host on
September 29, 2009 at
2:38PM UMDT
Sara Daw
The legal drinking age is a subject that has incited a torrent of controversy. Some people believe that lowering the drinking age to 18 would prevent alcohol-related complications among teens. I disagree. Lowering the drinking age is an ineffective attempt to solve serious underage drinking problems and personal rights issues. Eighteen-year olds have the right to vote and are tried as responsible adults when they commit a crime. Consequently, supporters argue that 18-year-olds should also have the personal right to decide whether or not they should drink. This is ludicrous. When someone turns 18, it does not mean that she is ready to make adult decisions. It means she is becoming an adult and can begin to be treated like an adult in some respects. They are not, however, responsible enough to drink alcohol. In 2007, drivers between the ages of 16 to 20 were involved in 1,719 drunk driving accidents. Imagine how this number would increase if drinking were legalized for 18- to 20-year olds. It is clear that 18-year-olds are unable to drink responsibly, and allowing them easier access to alcohol will only make the problem worse. There are those that say the legal drinking age should be changed because it does not effectively keep 18- to 20-year olds from drinking. It is widely known that underage drinkers are usually capable of obtaining beer through older friends and relatives. Lowering the legal drinking age would create more problems than it would solve because it would become easier for younger teens to acquire alcohol. Legislators would be unable to lower the legal drinking age even further for these young teens without menacing retribution from parents. Lawmakers would eventually be forced to tighten laws to punish underage drinking in a younger society set. Why not tighten our laws now to effectively deter the current tide of illegal drinking in youth? We would be able to avoid turmoil in the future. Allowing this law to bend because it is not being kept would also open the floodgates for more laws to be discarded for similar reasons. It would be like eliminating speeding laws because they do not stop people from driving faster than the speed limit. Some believe that lowering the drinking age to 18 would prevent alcohol-related deaths among teens. It is said that teens drink as much alcohol as they can when they get the chance because opportunities come rarely. Even if this is true, it would be worse to have widespread drinking legalized for the underage population. Studies have shown that those who start drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop an alcohol addiction later on in life. It stands to reason that alcohol should be kept away from young adults for as long as possible. If there is a problem with binge drinking, harsher laws need to be enacted to encourage underage teenagers to stay away from alcohol. The legal drinking age is vital to the safety of our community. It sets a standard that should not be tampered with or changed in any way. If this law is altered, there is no telling the domino affect this could have on similar laws. The government should not relent to increasing demands to change the legal drinking age. Rather leaders should focus their efforts on solving alcohol-related problems in a more direct way.
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