I want to make my opinion about lowering the drinking age to 18 known.
I know we’re all college students, so being on a college campus and drinking are just one of those things that happen. I’m making this as more of a general opinion to the world, as to why in the United States the legal age should be 18.
According to ProCon.org, one pro to lowering the drinking age is that turning 18 means you are being given the rights and responsibilities of adulthood to vote, serve on juries, join the military — which means taking on the responsibility of life and death — and be prosecuted as an adult. Therefore, adults from the age of 18 and older should be allowed to make decisions about alcohol consumption.
Also, lowering the age of alcohol consumption will make drinking less of a taboo. It’ll take away the thrill that young people get when breaking the law and make drinking a more normalized activity done in moderation.
Another reason is that national alcohol prohibition from 1920–1923 failed, which shows that strict regulation of alcohol consumption is really just counterproductive, unenforceable and can lead to a continuation of illegal activities.
Did you know that although many believe that anyone under the age of 21 is prohibited from drinking alcohol in the U.S., underage drinking is allowed in 29 states if done on private premises with parental consent, 30 states if it’s for religious purposes, and 13 states if it’s for educational purposes (though I don’t know why you would need to drink for educational purposes)?
My point is that if those states are allowing alcohol consumption below the age of 21, it might as well be lowered in all states to 18.
Also, did you know that the enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 prompted states to raise their legal age for purchase or public possession of alcohol to 21 or risk losing millions in federal highway funds?
Now, I know there are, of course, cons to this. For instance, our brains don’t fully develop until we are around 24. But just looking at one website, there were more pros than there were cons, and there has been a lot of research done for why the legal age should be 18.
Ali Cupelli is a sophomore studying communication studies.
