By: Lily Anderson

Today is the day, your twenty-first birthday, the day you have been waiting for since you were introduced to pretty much any social scene ever. The fears of entering a bar, scared that your cheap fake ID won’t work are officially over. Young Americans wait years to be able to finally legally drink without any care in the world, while young Europeans get the pleasure of that three years earlier. America has one of the highest drinking ages in the world but many kids decide to overlook that law and drink well before the age of twenty-one. Scientists want to even raise the legal drinking age to twenty-five after extensive research done on our brains. Many American adults are very against the thought of drinking before twenty one which has caused multiple issues between individuals, their families, and law enforcement. While Americans are struggling to not get caught drinking underaged, citizens in other countries around the world are enjoying their alcoholic drinks before the age of eighteen, due to carefree laws in place. In many countries like Germany, they are even having alcohol served to students at prom. This brings into question, why is America so strict about the legal drinking age? 

Throughout the years, there have been many complaints from underaged teenagers pushing the government to change the legal drinking age back to eighteen after President Ronald Reagan officially changed it to twenty-one in 1984. Many people do not understand how most countries in Europe and many other countries around the world allow eighteen-year-olds to consume alcohol but the American government has such high standards for their citizens. In fact, lowering the drinking age could mean safer consumption of alcohol for individuals. “Lowering the drinking age to 18 would allow 18-to-20-year-olds to consume alcohol safely in regulated environments, with supervision”(Otte, UNEWS). Instead of underaged drinkers hiding around and drinking secretively to themselves, lowering the drinking age would provide young adults with a safer environment. By doing this it would teach individuals how to safely drink with supervision constantly around them, rather than a small group of teens experimenting for the first time when none of them know their own limits. By doing this it would provide young adults with guidance and information from experienced drinkers. This is something they would not receive if they are hiding their underaged drinking. 

The other side though has a different belief though. People believe the drinking age should remain at twenty one because it is irresponsible to allow kids under the age of twenty-one into clubs. Lowering the age restriction would allow young adults into more violent areas. “Neighborhoods with higher densities of bars, nightclubs, and other alcohol-selling locations suffer more frequent assaults and other violent crimes”(ProCon). Neighborhoods with higher densities of bars and clubs experience much higher violence rates and they are trying to keep kids out of there. This seems completely naive to many people though. We send hundreds of thousands of our young adult citizens to fight every year to protect this country from harm. While they are out fighting for their own lives and our lives our government is scared that young adults will be going into more dangerous areas just because there are a couple of bars and clubs in the area. Yes, it can be more dangerous, but when looking at places like Iowa City, which has a huge bar and club population, this does not fit into that stereotype. Many college towns are filled with kids drinking on the weekends and because of that, there need to be safer precautions in place for them. Maybe our country should focus on making safer environments that surround the high bar and club populations instead of trying to keep kids out of them. From the looks of it, our government already does not do a very good job of stopping underage drinking. This is pretty relevant in any college town you will step onto.

At the age of eighteen, we are pronounced legal adults. At this time we are allowed to enlist in the United States Military, buy tobacco and nicotine products(up until this year), make medical decisions for yourself, stand on a jury, and get married. Yet there are still precautions and restrictions to letting American eighteen-year-olds drink. The people on the other side of this argument states, “A person cannot legally purchase a handgun, gamble in a casino (in most states), or adopt a child until age 21, rent a car (for most companies) at age 25, or run for President until age 35”(ProCon). They say that drinking should be restricted because of the responsibility it holds for oneself and others. Yet again, the other side falls short when thinking through this. Nicotine and tobacco products are proven to cause cancer and addiction but we still allow legal adults to get a hold of that. We allow eighteen-year-olds to stand before a doctor and figure out what is wrong with them physically and mentally without the parental guidance they were legally bound to have for eighteen years. We allow them to stand before a court and determine someone’s prison sentence because our government sees fit that at eighteen years old when you legally become an adult, you can make that life-changing decision for someone. Our government allows each United States citizen to make all of these life-changing decisions for themselves and others, yet we still question the aspects of the legal drinking age. I have multiple friends serving in the United States Marines and all of them are rather annoyed at the fact that after a long day’s work serving our country they cannot sit down and enjoy a nice beer. 

 Ronald Reagan changed the legal drinking age to twenty-one to combat the drunk driving issues that were happening during his time as president. Reagan implemented this by threatening states with a ten percent cut on their federal highway funding. After this law was passed, there has been a major decline in young adults drunk driving. From 1988 to 1998 there was about a thirty-six percent decline in traffic fatalities involving alcohol. “The number of young drivers in fatal crashes with a positive BAC dropped 61 percent, from 4,393 in 1982 to 1,714 in 1998”(TrafficTech). No doubt upping the drinking age improved drinking and driving fatalities but it does not just stop there. Many other attributes fall into changing the drinking age, one of them being binge drinking. Researchers found a seven percent decrease in binge drinking among college students from 1988 to 2011. Along with that, there was a thirteen percent decrease in binge drinking among high school students. In current days we do not know how true that is anymore. There is a whole epidemic going around America based on college students drinking. An article published by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reveals that fifty-five percent of college students aged eighteen to twenty-two have admitted to drinking alcohol and thirty-seven percent admitted to binge drinking. Raising the drinking age might have worked in the past for a good amount of time, but college students have become obsessed with the aspects of drinking and partying in their free time that has caused most of them to put the legal drinking age law straight to the back of their minds. 

Both sides of this argument make a very strong case but there’s no denying the holes present when looking at the side that says the drinking age should remain twenty-one. It brings into question, why is America so strict with its drinking age when places like Great Britain are so lenient with it? There is factual evidence that shows lowering the drinking age may be smarter for young adults so they can develop a healthier way of drinking and learning not to binge drink. A big reason scientists do not want to lower the drinking age is because research found that our brains do not develop until age twenty-five. Yet, the drinking age is not even twenty-five and at the age of eighteen U.S. citizens can still purchase nicotine and tobacco products that have a serious effect on the brain. Underaged drinking also costs the U.S. economy twenty-four billion dollars in 2010. By lowering the drinking age, this would significantly decrease the amount of money the U.S. is spending because of underage drinking. There are many aspects that go into changing the legal drinking age, but there is no denying the facts that are included. 

Citations:

https://one.nhtsa.gov/people/outreach/traftech/tt261.htm

Drunk Driving Crashes Reduced

https://ourcommunitynow.com/lifestyle/things-you-can-legally-do-in-the-u-s-when-you-turn-18

https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/minimum-legal-drinking-age.htm#:~:text=The%20age%2021%20MLDA%20saves%20lives%20and%20improves%20health.&text=States%20that%20increased%20the%20legal,decline%20in%20motor%20vehicle%20crashes.

Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?

Lower drinking age could mean safer consumption

Football has become a staple American sport. Families flack to the stands to watch their teenage sons, and in few cases daughters, enter that football field and play their hearts out in front of the crowd. On Saturday evenings everyones families and friends gather around the couch to watch the intense NFL games that Americans have become so accustomed too. This has been the American tradition for years now, but will that soon be changing?

Over the past couple of years there has been a huge decline in youth attending football. Scientist are warning families to keep away from the head injuring sport as more and more information about what the sport is doing to young brains is revealed. “a significant decrease in gray matter pruning [essential for brain development] in the frontal default mode network, which is involved in higher cognitive functions, such as the planning and controlling of social behaviors”(PsychologyToday). Scientist have also discovered even after one single game of football there are extremely small changes to the brain after the game that are not good when brains are still developing at such a young age. This has scared parents so much that one by one they are pulling their kids out of Americas beloved sport trying to protect their kids from long term damage. A High school in New Jersey has suffered very badly. This school in the past had supplied a numerous amount of players to the NFL but now-a-days they are struggling to even make it to a game because of the loss of players. As of right now Football is slowing down drastically but we have yet to know when we will have to kiss our Friday night games and our Saturday family gatherings goodbye.

Many scientist and test done have made people believe that CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is permanent condition caused by playing football. In reality, CTE is not only caused by football, “The same study that found an association between repetitive head impact and dementia in CTE also found that cardiovascular disease and dementia in CTE were correlated… a separate study 10,000 people found no association between participation in contact sports and later cognitive decline or increase in symptoms of depression”(FiveThirtyEight). Many scientist are positive this will not turn into a huge thing across the United States. Just last year, 2019, the NFL has come out with three new rules to try and prevent head injuries. “The blindside block is eliminated… It is now prohibited for a blocker to initiate forcible contact with his head, shoulder or forearm when his path is toward or parallel to his own end line”(NFL). “It is a foul for running forward and leaping across the line of scrimmage in an obvious attempt to block a field goal or Try Kick”(NFL). Lastly, a change made in 2018 with the kickoff rules has decreased concussions by 35%. The NFL is constantly making new rules for each player to follow in hopes of protecting their players from further head injury.

Just like everything else in our world, Football is constantly changing and developing. No one knows yet what will happen to Football in America. Parents are scared for their kids brains but there are constantly new rules and regulations made every year and that trying to improve the safety of our young kids playing and grown adults in the NFL. Only time will tell if Football has met it’s match.

Citations:

https://operations.nfl.com/football-ops/nfl-ops-honoring-the-game/health-safety-rules-changes/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/singletons/201901/tough-decision-should-you-let-your-child-play-football

Should Parents Be Afraid To Let Their Kids Play Football?