11
Kop
“MC” no longer refers to the infamous rapper MC Hammer. Among today’s youth “MC” refers to Minor Consumption, the legal term for an underage person caught drinking alcohol. Some groups of young people flaunt an “MC” as a badge of courage, honor, daring and experience. In other groups, consuming alcohol before the age of twenty-one is considered a sign of weakness or a disregard for one’s personal integrity. Today, the average age that a child begins to drink alcohol is thirteen. Experts consider alcohol to be the number one gateway drug among adolescents (Center for Science in the Public). Should the legal drinking age in America be lowered to age eighteen or remain at age twenty-one? Considering the positive health aspects of alcohol consumption and contrasting how it contributes to the accidents, injuries and fatalities it provokes, the question of the appropriate age for use of alcohol is challenging. Alcohol is a potentially dangerous drug that should be used wisely and maturely. The laws of America that only allow use of alcohol to those over twenty-one years of age should stand. There should be continued resistance to use this potentially dangerous substance by young persons who are likely to suffer negative consequences of this addictive drug.
To those who believe in freedom of choice and self-determination, lowering the legal age for alcohol consumption is logical. In America, the legal voting age has been eighteen since 1971. Citizens eighteen years and older are allowed to marry, make their own health care decisions, join the military and can be sent to prison for crimes they commit. Proponents of teen alcohol use believe that the ability to responsibly consume alcohol should be allowed to those who have the other rights of adulthood. By singling out alcohol as a privilege of those twenty-one and older, drinking establishments segregate those who might enjoy other adult entertainments. Businesses are forced to separate alcohol consumption from all other ‘adult-only’ activities including watching certain movies, using tobacco products or enjoying an evening with friends in a sports bar. These policies limit where and with whom young people can spend their free time (“National Youth Rights Association”). Those in favor of lowering the drinking age argue that this is a type of segregation not based on strong factual evidence.
The United States has the strictest youth drinking laws and the highest minimum drinking age in the world (“International Center for Alcohol Policy”). Only four countries, Ukraine, South Korea, Malaysia and the United States make consuming alcohol illegal for those less than twenty-one years of age. Those countries that do allow drinking at a younger age reportedly do not see alcohol as a “poison or a magic potion”; instead, they drink with “little or no social pressure.” In these countries outrageous behavior due to alcohol consumption is never acceptable because children were brought up with the knowledge of how to handle liquor (Engs).
Proponents of lowering the legal age to drink alcohol also argue that decreasing the legal drinking age to eighteen would free up valuable societal resources as well as produce additional revenue for the government. The money that could be made in tax revenue from alcohol purchases is estimated in the millions of dollars, taking into account alcohol purchases possible by customers aged eighteen to twenty-one years (“International Center for Alcohol Policies”). Though the purpose of taxing alcoholic beverages is partly to fund programs to help reduce alcohol abuse, the government also knows that the money that can be obtained from alcohol purchases could be used for other purposes. By keeping the purchase of alcohol illegal in the younger population, the government loses the opportunity to bring in more tax revenue. In addition, the resources used in law enforcement to catch and punish under age consumer of alcohol could be better used elsewhere. Private use of alcohol that causes no harm to others is a difficult law to enforce and proponents of lowering the drinking age would say law enforcement has better things to do (Engs).
Not only could money be made if the drinking age was lower through tax revenue, but money can also be saved. An article written in Time Magazine discussed a college paying six million dollars to the family of a freshman boy who “drank himself to death at a fraternity initiation” (Kluger). By allowing persons eighteen years of age and older- which would include the majority of college aged students- to consume alcohol, universities would be able to regulate drinking much easier. This type of regulation might help prevent accidental deaths of many drinkers, who would be qualified as underage with the standing policy, by allowing them to drink maturely in a controlled environment. These college students would be educated in their limits of consumption by having previous experiences of drinking, which in turn would make it a much safer experience compared to a student who did not know their limits. Along side of this, colleges would no longer have to worry about enforcing alcohol regulations for these underage drinkers due to the fact that the majority of the college’s students would now be of legal drinking age.
As taught through the public educational system, a child learns that alcohol is a poison to the body; however, how does that explain how alcohol consumption can save as many as 135,884 lives per year? This significant number is the product of thirteen studies that displayed how moderate alcohol consumption saved United States citizens from coronary heart disease (Pearson). Among other studies, moderate alcohol consumption has proven to lower cardiovascular risk factors, reduce the risk of stroke, lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and also build resistance to five strains of the common cold. Moderate drinkers are overall healthier and outlive abstainers (Barr). Many medical studies agree that moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages has health benefits for the average citizen. As stated by Franklin B. Krohn,”Moderate drinkers tend to have better health and live longer than those who are either abstainers or heavy drinkers” (Krohn).
In spite of the support of lowering the drinking age and its positive effects, there are a number of arguments as to why the drinking age should not be lowered. Alcohol is highly addictive, and its use can cause severe psychological and medical problems. Registered as the most common gateway drug among children and adolescents, alcohol can be the first step on the road of addiction (Center for Science in the Public Interest). Despite claims to the contrary, alcohol is a poison and has been linked as a factor in about sixty different diseases (“Alcohol ‘as harmful as smoking’”). Current medical research indicates that the brain does not finish developing until the early to mid-twenties. A growth of brain cells occurs in a spurt in late adolescence and tapers off by age twenty-five (Pintar). Alcohol is prone to do more damage to a developing brain compared to a fully mature brain by shrinking memory signals faster as well as reducing memory (Center for Science in the Public Interest). Exposing the teenage brain to alcohol is likely to impair its function similar to the way alcohol causes irreparable harm to the developing brain of the fetus if its mother drinks. “About 40 births per 1,000 females are aged 15 to 19” (“Almost 4 in 10 U.S. children born out of wedlock in 2005”). If alcohol use was legalized to the age group of eighteen and up, the risk of alcohol exposure in the fetus would undoubtedly rise.
Also, alcohol is widely considered to be a gateway drug for children and adolescents. This means that it is often the first drug to which a young person is exposed. It teaches him or her the ‘joy’ of reduced inhibitions and allows the user to engage in behaviors that they would not do while sober (Center for Science in the Public Interest). This lack of normal inhibitions leads to an increase in dangerous behaviors like drunk driving and fighting in the younger population. Not only do young individuals who abuse alcohol engage in dangerous activity, but they also become active in a care free lifestyle that can lead to poor decision making skills. Although not everyone who uses alcohol will go on to use other drugs, almost everyone who does go on to use other illicit substances begins with alcohol (Center for Science in the Public Interest).
As a first hand example, a junior at Carson High School was taunted with alcohol by his friends. This led to the boy experimenting with alcohol and he became a regular drinker. Soon alcohol was not just a weekend thing for him; he would consume alcohol on school nights as well- leading to a lack of commitment in school and outrageous behavior. When intoxicated, the boy found pleasure in doing dangerous and illegal stunts such as jumping off houses and spraying graffiti. The teen became so engaged in drinking that it lead into the usage of other drugs. He was soon on the verge of being an addict to not only alcohol, but marijuana as well. Before alcohol entered his life, this boy had expectations in life. He wanted to graduate from high school with honors then go into the Marines; however, alcohol halted his dream. He barely graduated and he cannot go into the Marines because he is preoccupied with alcohol and drugs. His life is going down the drain to this minute. He is loosing his friends and his family is about to move away and leave him in Carson, but so far this boy does not have the courage and strength to gain his life back, the life that alcohol stole from him.
Restricting use of alcohol to those under age twenty-one saves lives in other ways as well. It is estimated that the age twenty-one laws have decreased the number of alcohol-related youth fatalities among drivers by sixty three percent since 1982. At least 17,000 lives have been saved since 1975 (Alcohol Policies Project). Although car accidents are the leading cause of deaths among teenagers, studies have found that a large portion of the accidents were attributed to the teen driver being intoxicated. A study undertaken in 1997 stated that 3,336 drivers aged fifteen to twenty died and approximately thirty percent of those drivers were intoxicated. Along with fatalities attributed to vehicle crashes and alcohol, suicide is the second leading cause of death in teenagers. Alcohol lowers inhibitions and is considered a prime component in a teen’s plan and attempt at suicide (Center for Science in the Public). Teens who would not consider such drastic action when sober will commit suicide when under the influence of alcohol.
Keeping the legal drinking age at twenty-one has demonstrated benefits among high school and college age students. The 1978 National Study of Adolescent Drinking Behavior found that teens in states with lower drinking ages drank more, were drunk more often and more of them used alcohol overall than in states with higher drinking ages. The findings of this study were used to justify the age twenty-one law passed in the early 1980’s and its benefits continue today. Raising the drinking age has decreased the numbers of young persons who experiment with this potentially dangerous substance.
A commonly asked question aimed at the National Youth Rights Association, a group that advocates giving youth more rights such as consuming alcohol, is “If 18 year olds obtain alcohol with a 21 drinking age, won’t lowering the drinking age to 18 just put alcohol within reach of 15 year olds?” The youth rights organization did not disagree that changing the drinking age would increase alcohol consumption; instead, the organization answered the question in agreement that it would make alcohol easier for a minor to obtain (“National Youth Rights Association”). Not only does the NYRA know that minors will consume more alcohol if the drinking age is lowered, but multiple sources think likewise. In an argument raised by alcohol proponents as to why the government should lower the drinking age, a point emphasized the most was that “legal access to alcohol for 18 year-olds will provide more opportunities for younger teens to obtain it illegally from older peers” (Alcohol Policies Project). If the law were to change, the number of underage drinkers would sky rocket, and the distribution of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) and other alcohol-related offenses would be far greater. Allowing younger drivers access to alcohol would be foolish and would lead to an increase in auto accidents, alcohol-related deaths and alcohol-related disability. The negative consequences that would result from a lower drinking age are extraordinarily high compared to the issues that we face today with an age twenty one drinking law.
“Those who take their first drink at age 13 have a 47.3% chance of becoming alcohol dependent during their lives” (Center for Science in the Public Interest). If one were to wait until later years in life, one’s chance at becoming an alcoholic are much lower- around ten percent. With just about four million teens suffering from alcohol dependency today, teenagers account for more then one-fifth of all alcohol dependent people (Center for Science in the public). Sadly, “once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic,” as Alcohol Anonymous (AA) likes to state it (“This is A.A. An Introduction to the A.A. Recovery Program”). Lowering the drinking age would increase the number of alcoholics, not decrease it. Most children today do not think that drinking a little alcohol here and there will make them an alcoholic, but over time a dependency can be formed. Do the American people really want to have the number of alcohol dependent teens reach five, perhaps six million? Most people who use alcohol do not see themselves as an alcoholically dependent person; instead, they see themselves as someone who is simply yearning for a nice drink to help with a little stress. It’s hard to understand how one can think this way when everyone understands the malevolent repercussions that come along with alcohol, but how are young people supposed to know what they’ve become if not even experienced people know what the consequences of alcohol misuse are? There are huge numbers of people trying to deal with the problems of alcohol. Alcoholics Anonymous and its related organizations like AlAnon help millions of members all across the country. Of those millions, only a small majority are under twenty-one years old. This in turn must mean that the current law is somehow working.