Should Age Be The New Drinking Age - 2344 Words

Brooke Spillers Honors English Period Two 12 March 2016 Adolescent Drinking The question is: Should eighteen be the new drinking age? There are so many aspects to that one question. Are they mature enough, are their brains fully developed, and what about accessibility? Those are just a few thoughts on this hot topic. In 1984 President Reagan signed a bill that changed all states’ drinking age to twenty one. He found that in many states that had previously switched from a lower age to the twenty one age acquired lower rates of deaths caused from driving (Rowley 1). Just a few years difference in the age, but there was a dramatic amount of lives being saved. Teens have an immunity to alcohol, even if they have never had a drink. Being more immune results in more drinking, and leads to making not-so-smart decisions. Despite being a legal adult at the age of eighteen by law, individuals at this age still lack the overall maturity to be knowledgeable about the consequences of their reckless actions when drinking alcohol. Alcohol can ta ke a huge toll on adolescent brains as well. In the article, â€Å"Teen Drinking May Cause Irreversible Brain Damage† the reader is told that Susan Tapert took a close look into the nerve tissue in teens’ brains. She found that kids who binge drink had â€Å"a number of little dings†(4) in their nerve tissue. This shows that there is poor connection with the brain cells. The hippocampus was affected and looked different as well. This affects memory,Show MoreRelatedAccording To â€Å"College Drinking,† Almost Two Out Of Three1388 Words   |  6 PagesAccording to â€Å"College Drinking,† almost two out of three college students engage in binge drinking. Binge drinking is a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL or higher (â€Å"College Drinking†). Many parents, guardians, and psychologists believe that college students binge drink because they think drinking is an integral part of their higher e ducation. Similar to peer pressure, college students drink because the rest of the student body drinks. FurthermoreRead MoreIncrease in the Legal Drinking Age870 Words   |  3 PagesAnother reason why the legal drinking age was changed is because of the fact that the adolescent brain is not fully developed; it is supposed that â€Å"excessive alcohol intake causes brain damage† in teens. However, in order for damage to occur, the drinking has to be extremely excessive. If there are only a few of these extreme bingeing â€Å"episodes,† they do no harm to the adolescent brain (Minimum Drinking Age). David J. Hanson, a professor at the University of New York at Potsdam, states, â€Å"There’sRead MoreEssay about Debate Over the Legal Drinking Age1735 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Legal Drinking Age College life is filled with changes. It is filled with many new experiences. As college students, we are on our own, adults. As adults we are responsible for keeping up to date on information that affects us. One issue that affects college students nation wide is drinking. The current legal drinking age in the United States is twenty-one years of age. The Federal government raised the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 in 1984. Even with the current drinking age at twenty-oneRead MoreWhy Lowering The Drinking Age Is A Good Idea?. Lowering1627 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Drinking Age is a Good Idea? Lowering the drinking age to 18 in the United States has been a source of controversy in recent years. It has been a controversial topic because many people disagree, while many agree with the topic. For example, the people who disagree and are against lowering the drinking age to 18 believe we should not lower the drinking age because 18 year old individuals are not responsible enough to drink alcohol. While, the people who agree we should lower the drinking ageRead MoreThe Policy Of The National Minimum Drinking Age1503 Words   |  7 Pagesminimum drinking age of 21. I believe that the raising of the drinking age to 21 years old has created more problems than solving them. America has had past experiences with a similar situation when they enforced prohibition. As we know, prohibition was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, which was a huge failure. America have tried prohibition legislation twice in th e past for controlling irresponsible drinking problemsRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Of The United States Essay1385 Words   |  6 Pagesthe night before when they went out drinking. It is a common fact that most teenagers have had a drink of alcohol before their twenty-first birthday. Most teenagers drink regularly or in some cases, binge drink. Nobody can prevent underage drinking. When people tell a teenagers they cannot have something, it inclines them to want it even more and teenagers will go to extreme lengths to obtain it. In 1984, Congress passed the law stating the legal drinking age in the United States was twenty-one (Alcoholism)Read MoreThe Drinking Age Should Remain 18 in Australia1563 Words   |  7 PagesThe Drinking Age Should Remain 18 Years Old in Australia The Drinking Age Should Remain 18 Years Old in Australia These days there are a number of social issues in the community, such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is rampant in today’s society, Australian Drug Foundation states that, â€Å"Alcohol is the most widely used psychoactive, or mood-changing, recreational drug in Australia.†(Healey, 2002, p. 11). Underage drinking and binge drinking are some of the problemsRead MoreQuicker Liquor Essay1506 Words   |  7 PagesShould We Lower the Drinking Age? | 18 vs. 21 | â€Å"Quicker Liquor† A Short Research Paper Should the legal drinking age be lowered? Those who supported the change for the 2009 re-authorization of the law (dubbed Pro 18), and those who wanted the law to remain at the current age of 21 (dubbed Pro 21), had three major categories to explore for this debate: safety, binge drinking and maturity. There is opposition and support on both sides of the issue including a coalition founded inRead MoreThe Drinking Age Should Be Legal974 Words   |  4 PagesThe Drinking Age For many reasons, the drinking age has been set at twenty-one years old, but has the time come to lower the drinking age? Many argue that the drinking age needs to be lowered back to eighteen for many reasons; however, studies and statistics show that lowering the drinking age is harmful and even deadly. Some people believe that binge drinking can be solved by lowering the drinking age, but lowering the drinking age is not the solution to binge drinking. Many teenagers spend theirRead MoreEssay about Keeping the Drinking Age at 211662 Words   |  7 PagesWhen it comes to the subject of drinking and teenagers, what is the first thing that comes to mind? To me its the legal age limit of when teens should be able to drink. Having it lowered is controversial because according to prior experiences, data shows that younger age drinking is well known for its fatalities. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), on one of the most popular prom nights in 1999, as many as 62 percent of the traffic deaths were alcohol-related (). The most important