According to the National Center for Addiction and Drug Abuse, underage drinking accounts for 17.5% ($22.5 billion) of alcohol consumption spending in the United States. [16] The 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicates that 24.8% of adolescents aged 14 or 15, 46.7% aged 16 or 17 and 68.3% aged 18 to 20 drink alcohol. [49] Lowering the MLDA to age 18 and promoting responsible drinking habits will reduce the risk of binge drinking among underage adolescents. The introduction of alcohol at a younger age will also normalize responsible drinking habits. Choose Responsibility (CR) is a nonprofit group that works to lower the drinking age to 18 and encourages states to grant exemptions allowing minors to drink at home and in private clubs. It also promotes social change that shifts the focus from adolescent alcohol use to home, family and individual (Main 33-34). When asked what the legal drinking age should be in the United States, Heath answers 8 or maybe even 6 years old. A restaurant that serves all these high-risk individuals would still be considered “responsible.” No one expects servers to ask you about your history of alcoholism or pregnancy because people would find these questions offensive and intrusive. And yet, all of these at-risk groups are much more likely to cause alcohol-related problems than people under the age of 21. There is no logical reason to accept questions about our age, but to be offended by more reasonable questions.
Statistically, fewer accidents and deaths under the influence of alcohol occur in countries where the legal drinking age is 18. The legal drinking age should be lowered to around 18 or 19 and young adults should be allowed to drink in controlled environments such as restaurants, taverns, pubs and official school and university events. In these situations, responsible consumption could be taught through model and educational programs. One would expect mature and reasonable consumption behaviour. This opinion is based on research I have been involved in for over thirty years on college-aged teenagers and the history of alcohol consumption in the United States and other cultures. As a drug, alcohol is relatively safe for humans, compared to many newer prescription drugs we regularly give to children. The effects of alcohol on the human body are well known, with records dating back thousands of years. However, the effects of newer prescription drugs such as Ritalin, antidepressants, and cough suppressants are generally not fully known or known to be as bad as those of moderate amounts of alcohol or worse.
This shift in beverage choices, along with irresponsible drinking habits among younger colleagues, has led to an increased incidence of alcohol toxicity – in some cases, death from alcohol poisoning. However, the percentage of students who consume alcohol or who consume a lot of alcohol or who consume alcohol excessively has been relatively stable over the past 30 years. In addition, setting the legal drinking age at 18 can encourage alcohol consumption in safer environments. Proponents say a higher drinking age reduces alcohol-related accidents McKinney, Roger. Missouri alumnus at Colorado Rehab Hospital after alcohol poisoning: “Life as he knew it is gone.” Columbia Daily Tribune, February 9, 2022, www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/education/campus/2022/02/09/former-university-missouri-student-danny-santulli-fiji-brotherhood-phi-gamma-delta-alcohol-poisoning/6703098001/. Retrieved 14 April 2022. I think you should drink at any age, so when you grow up, then you know what it`s like to be drunk. We often hear this misleading statistic: “Although drivers under the age of 21 represent 10% of licensed drivers, they are responsible for 17% of alcohol-related fatal crashes.” But the real probability that a licensed driver under the age of 21 will be involved in an alcohol-related fatal accident in a given year is indeed tiny: 1 in 11,764 (for those over 21, it is 1 in 21,686). Even though the odds for young drivers are twice as high, it`s like twice as likely to be struck by lightning in your life: it`s not a difference worth making sweeping changes to our freedoms or the way our laws treat entire groups of people. More people would be legally allowed to drink in bars, restaurants and other licensed establishments.
The incomes of private entrepreneurs would increase and higher tax revenues would be collected from the government.