When thinking about college, many students may envision a life of partying and drinking, but the legal drinking age in the United States is 21. According to the CDC, The 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that among high school students, during the previous 30 days, 29% ingested alcohol. There are multiple countries such as Australia, England, and Germany where the legal drinking age is 18. Lowering the legal drinking age to 18 will give youth the opportunity to learn responsible drinking, reduce binge drinking and DUIs among teenagers, and allow adults to maintain the right to make decisions regarding their own bodies.
In America, 18-year-olds can legally vote, smoke, sign a credit card contract, join the military, and even get married. If an 18-year-old is considered to be an adult and given these rights, they should be allowed to make their own choice to consume alcohol. Furthermore, the current legal drinking age of 21 has been proven to be ineffective in lowering underage drinking. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 80% of high school students have consumed alcohol before graduating. If 18-year-olds were allowed to legally drink, there would be less of a risk in doing so. It would be safer and more intelligent for people to learn how to drink responsibly legally, by understanding their tolerance, rather than illegally, with the possibility of ending up in dangerous situations.
Lowering the legal drinking age can reduce drunk driving accidents among teenagers. Many countries where the legal age of drinking is 18 tend to have a fewer fatal car crashes involving alcohol intoxication. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 31% of traffic accidents in the United States involve driving under the influence of alcohol. In contrast, in Germany and Russia, where the legal drinking age is 18, only 9% of fatal crashes involve alcohol. By reducing the legal drinking age to 18, there will be a reduction in the risk of underage drinking and driving because younger people will not feel compelled to hide the fact that they are drinking from parents and other authority figures. This way, drunk driving among people under the age of 21 will decrease as they would feel comfortable with utilizing a safer option such as contacting a sober person to drive.
Some may argue that lowering the drinking age can increase alcohol abuse among young people. However, The World Health Organization states that “countries with lower drinking ages do not have higher rates of youth alcohol use or abuse.” With a lower drinking age, people will learn to drink moderately. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, binge drinking is more common in the U.S. for those who consume alcohol under the age of 21. Binge drinking includes the risks of causing high blood pressure, liver disease, and alcohol poisoning. If the drinking age was legal at 18, people would not feel pressured to consume a great deal of alcohol at once because there would not be a limited supply.
Lowering the age at which it is legal to drink alcohol is beneficial to not only helping people learn drinking responsibly as a way to reduce alcohol poisoning and binge drinking but also gives 18 year olds the right to make decisions for themselves.