Have you ever considered drinking before you were twenty one? Most people have. Usually people think drinking at eighteen is always bad, but it has its benefits.

First of all, at eighteen you can vote and serve in the military. If you are mature enough to die for your country or to pick the president of your country it seems like you ought to be able to drink. True eighteen year olds can get carried away, but everything in life is a lesson and you don’t know until you’ve tried it. You can get married at eighteen! That means you would not be able to drink champagne at your wedding. You are on your own at eighteen. You can buy your own house or apartment. I think that is mature enough to be able to take a sip of alcohol.

Then there is the fact that alcohol is seen as the “Forbidden Fruit” to anyone younger than twenty one. Usually when eighteen year olds get their hands on alcohol they tend to drink more than they usually would, not knowing when they would be able to have some again. You might think that if the age was lowered then eighteen year olds would still drink too much. I think that if eighteen year olds had the chance to get drunk once they would have less of a chance of doing it again. Also they would learn that it is better in moderation. If we made drinking more casual eighteen year olds would probably drink less.

Another fact is that if eighteen year olds were allowed to drink they could do it in public. For example, say an eighteen year old wants to go out to a restaurant with his friends. He decides to order a drink. The waiter or waitress could monitor him and make he didn’t drink it too fast or have too much. Other public places eighteen year olds could have alcohol could include colleges, where teachers and dorm advisors could monitor alcohol consumption. Eighteen year olds would probably drink less in public too, knowing that there were people watching them. They wouldn’t have to sneak alcohol and risk having too much under stress of being caught.



Finally, the statistics are in favor of drinking at a lower age. Other countries such as Italy, China and Greece all have drinking ages of eighteen and all have statistically lower drinking problems. In the United Kingdom, it is not uncommon to see a group of eighteen year olds gathered around a table in a pub with a drink. For them, going out to eat is mainly to talk with your friends. If you are going to have alcohol that’s just on the side. It’s not such a big deal. I believe if the United States had a similar philosophy, then we would have less of a drinking problem. Eighteen year olds in the U.S. see what a big deal adults make of drinking and immediately hide it. When really it’s not that big of a deal and if eighteen year olds knew that they probably wouldn’t rush as much to drink. It’s kind of like a big brother little brother thing. If the adults (big brother) don’t make a big deal about drinking, the eighteen year olds (little brother) won’t make a big deal about it. If it can work for the other countries it can work for us.

In conclusion, having the drinking age lowered to eighteen could be a good thing. They are clearly mature enough and if they had it before eighteen they wouldn’t load up on “forbidden” alcohol. Even the statistics from other countries that have the age at eighteen show good results. What’s keeping us from trying?