Underage drinking is a huge epidemic in this country. It affects every aspect of the teenager’s life such as how they act, feel, and view life. Underage drinking will never disappear but there is something we can do to create respect for the substance. To create a future generation of respectful drinkers that can consume alcohol safely, the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18.

To clarify, by lowering the drinking age to 18, we aren’t looking to stop underage drinking, but to curb underage binge drinking. Studies show that casual drinking of alcohol isn’t what hurts teens, it’s dangerous binge drinking. In 1984, the legal drinking age was raised to 21 in hopes of reducing highway drunk driving. Logically it makes sense, as said by the CEO of MADD, If we raise the drinking age to 21, less people will drink and if we have less people drinking, less people will drive drunk. Raising the age makes sense, but all it did was shift the view of how people see alcohol. It changed it from some everyday object to this holy grail of adulthood. It has made such a big deal out of the substance that people can’t bring themselves to resist the temptation. Raising the age as stated by Time magazine Online, forced alcohol consumption behind closed door. Always unsupervised, done in secret and often too excessive. By stating this, the author is stating that binge drinking is extremely dangerous when dealing with alcohol. In other words, binge drinking is what is hurting teens.

Another argument is that at 18, as stated by youthrights online, you can vote, adopt children, sign up for the military or become a commercial pilot.. By saying this, the author is linking the idea of a lower drinking age with the fact that you are considered an adult at age 18. In other words, the drinking age should be 18 because 18 is considered to be a full-grown adult.

Time magazine online wrote, Last fall, a group of over 100 college presidents... signed a declaration stating that the 21-year old drinking age is not working. By stating this, the author is stating that even the most educated people in the country believe that the 21 drinking age isn’t working. College students are the most at risk. In 2004, a group of Psi Chi fraternity initiates were challenged to consume 10 gallons of liquor and wine in half an hour. There was extensive damage to all the participants and there was even a death. Lowering the drinking age will resolve problems like this by putting less of an emphasis on the substance. In some countries, the age is as low as 13 or 14, if there even is one at all. Countries such as these have lower recorded cases of alcohol poisoning, alcoholism, and other alcohol related illnesses.

While lowering the age might seem risky, but over time, it will be constructive. I look forward to a country of non-alcoholics, responsible drinkers, and a new breed of people with respect for the substance at the responsible age of 18.