The Debate on Lowering the Drinking Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Debate on Lowering the Drinking Age - Essay Example The article in CBS News stated the problem clearly. Teenagers are engaging in beer binges at an alarming rate. Underage drinking is so prevalent that it is already the norm. Even university presidents seemed to give up on the issue that it cannot be stop but can only be contained (2009). As a result of excessive underage drinking, deaths and accidents are on the continuous rise. Apparently, death among young adults that is alcohol related is not only due to drunk driving as what the age 21 drinking limit is trying to avoid but by other causes as well. As the article has stated, strict enforcement on the working age never worked. It only pushed underage drinking further underground. Banning it altogether also did not work because underage drinkers always find a way to have their alcohol. It even estimated that out of 2,000 violations, there are only 2 convictions that resulted from strict enforcement. Convicting the violators is also not a solution to the problem. Even if we assume for the sake of discussion that all 2,000 violators will be convicted, underage drinking will still not stop. Again, it will only push underage drinking further underground making it more dangerous. It will become more dangerous because underage drinkers will tend to make the most of the opportunity to drink alcohol without any regulators or parents around to moderate drinking. The problem about underage drinking is not the incorrect age limit to drink. It involves a bigger and more complex issue. It is a problem of indulgence and addiction more than the legal issue of incorrectly stating the correct drinking age at 21 years old. This explains why I am against at lowering the drinking age because it will not only solve the problem but can even potentially aggravate it. With the current culture of indulgence and addition, lowering the drinking age, say to age 18 or 17 may be even perceived as an encouragement. That instead of stopping or