A Voice of Reason
Minimum Drinking Age
Ryan Dickson
Issue date: 4/13/09 Section: Opinions
Alcohol. I personally can't stand the stuff. However, there are a number of my fellow students who revel in the pleasure of dousing their livers in a substance that, to me, tastes like paint thinner.
Some of these students are under the legal drinking age of 21.
These people can do anything any other adult can do, including being drafted, enter binding contracts, watch porn, buy porn or even star in porn. One of a few exceptions to this rule is the ability to purchase and consume alcohol. Should people under 21 be denied the right to buy alcohol? Some groups say "yes." Let's look at why they are wrong.
"Old enough to die for my country"
Proponents of lowering the drinking age to 18 suggest that if a citizen is old enough to serve in our armed forces, we should toss them a beer every once in a while.
Groups against lowering the drinking age suggest that this argument is fallible because we have many laws that restrict citizens rights based on age. We cannot rent cars until we are 25, for example.
On the other hand, we can obtain a hunting license at the age of 12, driving permits at 14 and driver's licenses at 16. We can trust you with deadly weapons before you are a teenager, and we will let you operate a one and a half ton chunk of fast moving metal and fiberglass, but a mildly intoxicating and much less dangerous beverage… forget about it. The age argument actually works against the people who use it to defend the current drinking age.
"The current law saves lives!"
Those who wish to keep the legal drinking age at 21 will tell you that alcohol-related traffic fatalities have gone down since the age was raised to 21 in 1984.
However, according to ChooseResponsibility.org, that decline actually began in 1982, two years before the law was passed. Rates also declined for every age group, not just teenagers.
Alcohol-related traffic fatalities were also at their highest in a decade during 2006. The rates are essentially all over the charts, and you cannot determine cause and effect from something so scattered as that. Let us also not forget our friends up north. Canadians experienced similar declines, but their drinking age has remained at 18. Interesting, to say the least.
Some of these students are under the legal drinking age of 21.
These people can do anything any other adult can do, including being drafted, enter binding contracts, watch porn, buy porn or even star in porn. One of a few exceptions to this rule is the ability to purchase and consume alcohol. Should people under 21 be denied the right to buy alcohol? Some groups say "yes." Let's look at why they are wrong.
"Old enough to die for my country"
Proponents of lowering the drinking age to 18 suggest that if a citizen is old enough to serve in our armed forces, we should toss them a beer every once in a while.
Groups against lowering the drinking age suggest that this argument is fallible because we have many laws that restrict citizens rights based on age. We cannot rent cars until we are 25, for example.
On the other hand, we can obtain a hunting license at the age of 12, driving permits at 14 and driver's licenses at 16. We can trust you with deadly weapons before you are a teenager, and we will let you operate a one and a half ton chunk of fast moving metal and fiberglass, but a mildly intoxicating and much less dangerous beverage… forget about it. The age argument actually works against the people who use it to defend the current drinking age.
"The current law saves lives!"
Those who wish to keep the legal drinking age at 21 will tell you that alcohol-related traffic fatalities have gone down since the age was raised to 21 in 1984.
However, according to ChooseResponsibility.org, that decline actually began in 1982, two years before the law was passed. Rates also declined for every age group, not just teenagers.
Alcohol-related traffic fatalities were also at their highest in a decade during 2006. The rates are essentially all over the charts, and you cannot determine cause and effect from something so scattered as that. Let us also not forget our friends up north. Canadians experienced similar declines, but their drinking age has remained at 18. Interesting, to say the least.
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