Hearing the words that my dad had got in an accident on his way home from work had caused worrying I had never felt before. As an 8-year-old getting ready for bed. My mom had told me he was okay but was hit on the passenger side of his car by a drunk driver. The driver was 21 at the time and had ended up in the hospital. Drinking has so many different consequences, especially during the young adult stage. This is why I believe the legal drinking age should be raised to at least 25. In this article, I will talk about drunk driving, brain development in young adults, responsibilities, alcohol addiction, and how alcohol can affect someone's physical and mental health.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published an article last updated in December of 2023 that states  “Every day, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes — that's one person every 39 minutes.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) also states that 31% of driving accidents are caused by drunk driving. Drunk driving is a huge problem in the US that could have an easy solution, raising the legal drinking age. Raising the drinking age could fix the drunk driving accident rate. More people would become more responsible because their frontal lobe would be developed, which is the part of your brain that thinks about the pros and cons of a situation and makes decisions. The frontal lobe would be fully developed at 25 so they can make better decisions like not getting behind the wheel after drinking. 

If we raise the drinking age to 25 it could have many positive effects because the brain is fully developed at the age of 25. Since the brain isn't fully developed at 21, the current legal drinking age is not appropriate. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism stated in an article that was last updated in December 2023 that “The widespread changes in the organization and functioning of the brain—which continue into a person’s mid-20s—bring about the cognitive, emotional, and social skills necessary for adolescents to survive and thrive. The nature of these rapid changes may also increase the adolescent brain’s vulnerability to alcohol exposure.” This shows how alcohol can affect someone's brain which can lead to different behaviors. During the early years of being an adult, it is important to be responsible and keep up with a job or college to get a good start on jobs and make money to benefit you later in life. 

In someone's adult years, drinking can cause different behaviors, such as being less responsible and using less common sense. For the current drinking age in the US, most people are in college. During college, many people are working towards getting a job for the rest of their lives. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH), “of full-time college students ages 18 to 22, 49.0% drank alcohol and 28.9% engaged in binge drinking in the past month.” Often drinking could cause less responsibility and less motivation which could cause someone to skip their classes or not do their work. Studies done at the McLean Hospital published July 30th, 2021 state that “Adding to the concerns are studies providing scientific evidence that alcohol significantly impairs learning and memory in teens and young adults.”

Many people start drinking when it becomes legal, while some people don't wait till it's legal. It can be easy to get addicted to alcohol especially if someone started drinking day after day in their young adult years. Many people use alcohol to change their mood, celebrate, or cope with depression and anxiety. When someone starts using alcohol as a way to cope it can be hard to stop because it makes the problems stop for a little bit or the thoughts of the stress or sadness go quiet. The Jed Foundation published an article written by Peg Rosen that stated “Drinking more alcohol to manage worsening symptoms only continues the cycle.” An alcohol use disorder can be at many different levels depending on how bad the disorder gets for someone. Alcohol use disorder can cause other conditions like depression or anxiety. The Mental Health Foundation in the UK, published in 2023 states that “Alcohol is a depressant, which can disrupt the balance of neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) in your brain and affect your feelings, thoughts, and behavior.” 

There are many effects of drinking and drinking at the age before the brain is fully developed.  Many things could happen to someone's body if they are drinking too much. Such problems are many different diseases. The National Institute of Health published an article stating that the 5 most common diseases caused by drinking are; high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver diseases, and digestive problems. If alcohol were harder to access, there would be less opportunity for people to get diseases because of alcohol. A recent study by the Mayo Clinic suggests “that severe alcohol-related liver disease is on the rise, especially in young adults.” this proves that young adults are more likely to get diseases due to drinking than people in their later life which is why a higher legal drinking age would be beneficial. 

In conclusion, there are so many different ways alcohol can impact someone's daily life with one big solution, raise the legal drinking age. There is such a wide range of risk factors when it comes to drinking such as getting in a car accident when drunk driving or affecting your future careers because you had too much to drink. Many points have been made about drunk driving,  addiction, physical and mental health, brain development, and losing responsibility when young adults are able to consume alcohol. The drinking age should be raised to save lives.