A Closer Look from the Other Side of the Bottle

Ms. Soumis

English Comp 101

10.8.06

A Closer Look From the Other Side Of the Bottle

By federal law, no person under the age of twenty-one years old may consume, obtain or possess alcohol. On July 17, 1984 legislation passed to change the drinking age from eighteen to a more mature twenty-one years old. The legislation was passed due to careless teens driving under the influence and numerous deaths due to alcohol. MADD or Mothers Against Drunk Driving was created in the early part of the 1980's by a mother whose son was killed by a drunk driver ( Tucker 12 ). MADD was very consistent in persuading the American public to pass legislation to increase the current drinking age which at the time was only a mere eighteen. But does increasing the drinking age three years really make the roads or society safer? Couldn't teens still obtain and drink alcohol even when they are under the age of twenty-one? What is stopping those millions of teens in high school and college from drinking? Most people aren't blind to the fact that in high school and college more than not teens are trying and consuming alcohol at astonishing rates. So is the National Minimum Drinking Age Act really doing it's job?

Only four countries in the world have drinking age of 21 which are Ukraine, South Korea, Malaysia, and The United States ( Holt 54 ). Many of the other two hundred countries in the world have lower drinking ages and many of them don't have drinking ages at all! All but a few countries do not have a problem with alcohol like the United States does. Many European

teens do not have problems with it because they are used to drinking a glass of wine with dinner or just going down to the local pub and having a pint of their countries finest ale. They do not abuse alcohol like we are accustomed to here in the good ol' US of A. What makes their countries different from ours? Teens in our country drink for one simple reason, to get drunk and have fun, which can be fine, but the one thing that they do wrong is get behind the wheel of a car and kill someone or even themselves.

So did raising the drinking age to 21 save 20,000 lives? According to a recent study by Peter Asch and David Levy it did not. In an in-depth and unrefuted study Asch and Levy prove that raising the drinking age merely transferred lost lives from the 18-20 brackets to the 21-24 age group. The problem with the 20,000 lives saved statistics is that it looks only at deaths for people aged 18-20. This is like rating the safety of a car by looking only at the seat belt and ignoring the fact that the car frequently tips over while driving. Raising the drinking age may have reduced deaths 18-20 but resulted in more deaths among people 21-24 ( Asch ). Raising the drinking age has not done its job in my opinion, and its time we look at the problem of drinking and driving honestly to find better options for dealing with the problem.

When people turn the ripe age of 18, they are granted with rights such as holding public office, serve on juries, fly planes, sign contracts, and even serve in the military. But they are not old enough or mature enough to handle or consume alcohol. Why is drinking a beer an act of greater responsibility and maturity than flying a plane or serving your country? I think it is

ridiculous that a person can fight in a war and serve our country but not be old enough to go to a bar and enjoy a bottle of suds. Julia Bonk, esteemed anthropologist from Loyola of Chicago

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states "These brave men and women are risking their lives to protect us at home but they are not mature enough to drink a damn beer, does that seem right to us as a society?" No it doesn't Ms. Bonk, no it doesn't. This question has puzzled many people in Congress so they gave in....somewhat. If you are in the military or any armed forces you are allowed to drink on base with a military ID or in some cases in the town, but is that good enough?

When someone gets a year older, on the morning of the birthday when they wake up, most if not all people will tell you that they do not feel a day older. So on the morning of our 21st birthday do we really become more mature? Do we just wake up with a different mind set telling us that we are older and we're ready for a beer! No we don't. Your body and mind improve throughout the entirety of your life. A 21 year old is different from an 18 year old, just as a 41 year old is different from lets say a 38 year old. NYRA which is a non profit organization trying to improve the rights of young individuals. According to the group Youth Prohibition activists ignore the fact that maturity is a gradual but uneven process that continues throughout life and is not complete on one's twenty-first birthday. Moreover, they ignore the proven medical fact that the moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with better health and greater longevity than is either abstaining or abusing alcohol. NYRA later on explains that the simplest way to prove this argument is for you to look in your medicine cabinet or go to the drug store. Every single over the counter medication defines an adult dose for ages 12 and up. Not 21, but 12. If the FDA can determine that a 12 year old is developed enough to have an equal does of Tylenol, or Sudafed, then an 18 year old is developed enough to have a glass of wine with dinner of a beer with his friends. One downside to the situation of lowering the

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drinking age from 21 to 18 years of age is that it could make it easier for younger kids to reach alcohol or even experiment with it ( NYRA website ). Look at it this way, if 18 year olds can obtain alcohol when the drinking age is 21, couldn't 15 year olds obtain alcohol if the drinking age was only 18? From a recent survey from NYRA, 76%, or over three quarters of eighth graders said that alcohol was "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain ( NYRA website ). Either from an older sibling or even going to into dad's liquor cabinet, alcohol is becoming increasingly easier to find. But lets not kid ourselves, you would have to be very naive to think that teens in high school and in college do not drink. In high school there are numerous parties every week and in college it is no different. I would have to say that by the time someone turns 21 almost 90 % have consumed alcohol. From where I am standing it