Dear Mr. President,
Imagine not being able to vote, smoke cigarettes, join the military, or even get married. After eighteen long years—or short, in the eyes of our parents and government—we are officially adults and every American gains those rights. Then, we are responsible for all of our choices and actions. So why are 18 year olds allowed to bear arms or be sent off to war, when they are not allowed to drink?
Lowering the drinking age may seen dangerous, but it is really the opposite. If you lower the drinking age, you also cut down on drunk drinking. According to CDC, sixty percent of teen deaths in car crashes are related to alcohol. Many teenagers drink and drive so they do not have to ask their parents for a ride and have them find out they were drinking. Instead, they decide to risk their lives and other innocent drivers and pedestrians by driving home themselves. If the drinking age was lowered, older teens would not feel the need to hide drinking from their parents. They would not feel obligated to drive drunk instead of simply asking for help.
Binge drinking is heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time. Since the early 90’s, consuming five or more drinks in a single session has increased in the 15-20 year olds, states the president of Duke University. He, along with over 150 other presidents of prestigious colleges such as Dartmouth, have signed a petition to lower the drinking age. Lowering the drinking age would help control the excessive binge drinking of college campuses with supervision and more education on the matter. Like Adam and Eve, to underage college students, alcohol is the forbidden fruit, the fruit tastes better and the illicit act makes everything more fun. But when you take away the forbiddingness the taste and the thrill just aren’t as good.
“It's like the old days of prohibition: from the suburbs to college campuses to inner cities, kids find ways to get around the 21 year old limit,” says John McCardell, president of Middlebury College in Vermont. So why are we allowing the sneaking and dangers to continue? As I stated above, the drinking age at 21 is doing more damage than good. When we allow the teenagers of our society to keep hiding their drinking, we allow them to keep putting themselves and others in danger.
Sincerely,
Caroline B