Underage Drinking

Underage Drinking
For over two decades, the United States residents have been benefited from a standardized law that establishes a minimum age for alcohol drinking. On July 17, 1984, President Reagan signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, effectively creating a nationwide minimum drinking age of 21. This was one of the most successful rules implemented by a public health institution(Voas 139). Thousands of lives have been saved and many tragedies have been avoided. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the law has saved over 24,000 lives in traffic accident since 1975, when states began to raise the minimum drinking age. This statistic does not include other types of diseases, injuries or death that may occur by consuming alcohol that have been avoidedsince the change in the law (Jones, Pieper and Robertson 112- 3). A significant fact to be considered is that alcohol is the most commonly used drug by young individuals; more than cocaine and that marihuana or any other illicit drug (Johnston et al. 247). Moreover, studies confirm that alcohol is involved in 25% of deaths among people aged 15 to 29 years. Its direct costs add 19,000 milliondollars annually to health care in the United States; while for the economy, the cost is 18,000 million dollars (Harris 19-20). Indisputably, underage alcohol drinking can lead to tragic immediate consequences as well as long-term adverse consequences, such as the risk of chronic alcohol addiction (Hingson, Heeren, and Winter 740).
Conversely, the legal minimum age of 21 years to drink alcohol hasbeen questioned recently, and some states have begun to consider a reduction in this age. This is a trend based on misunderstanding laws and their effectiveness. Supporters of this change argue that many young people drink excess of alcohol and often suffer serious consequences, it may arise a mistaken belief that lowering the minimum drinking age could in some way alleviate these problems.Sometimes european countries are identified as examples in how young people can be introduced to alcohol at a younger age in order to have control over it. Unfortunately, this perception of patterns of alcohol consumption in Europe is wrong. Recent studies show that most of the european countries have higher intoxication rates among young compared with the United States, and in some countries theserates are even much higher (Lipperman-Kreda, Paschall, and Grube 66; Brink).
Another argument for the reduction of the legal age limit relies on many studies that suggest a limited alcohol consumption (a couple of glasses of red wine per week) can actually have positive health benefits, consequently lowering the age limit would be an crucial step in changing drinking habits and would have long-termhealth benefits. On the other hand, a research published in the Journal of Substance Abuse in 1997 showed that young people in the United States who drink before the age of 15 is four times more probable to become alcoholic than those who begin drinking at 21. This is in part because they become to socialize in a heavy drinking culture at short age, and in part because of their physicaldevelopment (Grant 108). There is also evidence from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that underage drinkers have higher suicide and homicide rates. When drunk, young people may take steps or do something which cause long term problems, such as having unprotected sex.
One more pro argument afirms that in the United States a person is legally an adult at 18 years old. Since they can be triedas an adult in a court of law, are eligible for jury duty or can be drafted into the armed forces as well as they can own their own home, sign legal documents or responsible for their own debt, why prohibit them to drink alcohol at the same age. On the contrary, alcohol intoxication reduces the ability to make further choices rationally, and surely when a person gets drunk, it might then make...