The drinking age should be 21 years of age.

Underage drinking is a major problem in the world that has claimed many lives. There are multiple ways to die from alcohol: alcohol poisoning, drunk driving, and many other ways. No doubt about it, alcohol just starts trouble. Have you ever wondered what the leading reason for car crashes is? It isn’t texting or any usage of the phone. It is fully driving under the influence. Millions of Americans are pulled over and given a ticket for driving under the influence. People also die from alcohol poisoning, this number having been the leading cause of death in certain countries. In America, the death rate for alcohol poisoning in our youth has sky-rocketed in the past few years. It isn’t the leading cause but it is definitely one of the many causes of death that could easily be prevented. Many lives have been saved by the law that people under the age of twenty-one are unable to ingest alcohol. Scientists have found more than 25,000 lives have been effected (positively) by this law. Some people try to say that parents should be able to give their children small doses of the alcohol because it is in a controlled environment. Although, this isn’t always true. Some children may like the taste, and then sneak what to them appears to be a little bit but is actually a lot. Then they can eventually die from alcohol poisoning. When you are around the teen\preteen age, your brain is maturing. Alcohol damages the maturing process by killing brain cells. You may think that it ends at the age of eighteen, but you’d be incorrect. The maturing process is believed to end around the age of twenty-five. People say that if the alcohol age is lowered than it will make alcohol seem less appealing to children because of the adage “People want what they can’t have.” Although this may seem true, which it is, it will most likely make younger people drink which then rises the death rate from alcohol poisoning by a whopping amount. This law is put out for safety and completely based upon age. You may look and realize how low other countries drinking ages are. Depending on the country some don’t have a drinking age limit at all. You may think that those countries do well, but they have a lack of government. One of those countries is Jamaica, the only place in the world where it is legal to smoke pot. How is that right? Many of the laws in those other countries are lacking structure; many even lack government. That should make it common sense that we shouldn’t be like those types of countries, many of which are a part of the developing world. They are poor people whom spend all of their money on alcohol, when they could be buying resources like food, water, clothing, and or shelter. Parents don’t normally worry about their kids getting into alcohol because they believe that they have shielded them well enough so that they know better. Truth is children are ignorant and unknowing. People also think that their children don’t have access to alcohol, but when it comes right down to it, putting it on the top shelf won’t stop them. They have resources from school and other places such as (if you live in a big city) they can get it from almost any street side marketer. In 1996, 308 children died from alcohol poisoning; in 1997, 342 children died from alcohol poisoning; and in 1998, 300 children died from alcohol poisoning. As you may already be noticing, this is a very real issue amongst teen and young adults. (Yoon, Stinson, Yi, Dufour) In 1984, the law of minimum drinking age was made to be 21. Not only was in made illegal to drink alcohol under the age of 21, but you weren’t allowed to buy it or handle it either. Although, 19 states messed up when writing the law; instead of saying that drinking alcohol underage is illegal, they said that public possession and purchase were to be illegal. This law never mentions underage drinking, yet people still don’t do it in those states. This shows that people know what not to do, proving that it is only an act of common sense. (Hanson) Prohibition is what started the whole legal drinking age thing. The law was there before Prohibition, but wasn’t really enforced. Many children would drink on a regular basis and think nothing of it, but after Prohibition, it was considered a misdemeanor. It became impossible not to enforce because after the drinking age was lowered the rate of automobile crashes rose at an alarming rate. When government official found out about this number they changed the drinking age to twenty- one, and made sure to enforce the law so that the number would go down. (Whitehead, Williams) Some people even believe that twenty- one years of age is too young to start drinking because the human brain is not fully developed at that age. Although this is true, some people believe that it is already developed enough to drink at the age of twenty- one. If some people believe that twenty- one may even be too young, how can eighteen even be close? It is a proven fact that the human brain is fully developed by the age of twenty- five. Many people argue with that fact and have tried to prove it wrong a many of times. When it comes right down to it, they are arguing with science and when the brain is fully matured, not arguing that the legal drinking age should be lowered. People get offended when you tell them that they aren’t old enough to do something, and teens don’t really even care if they can drink or not. In the end, they just don’t want to be told that they can’t do something. Drinking will end someone’s childhood. Sometimes it will end more than just the kid’s childhood. Some parents think that it is OK for their children to drink under their supervision, so they allow them to do so. But, in reality, it is harmful for children, or anyone for that matter, to drink. Good parents do not allow their children to drink alcohol even under their supervision which is a smart thing to do. The best thing for parents to do is to not even talk about alcohol because that will make their children want it more. The best thing to do is to create a modern day Buddha out of your child. You have to tell them some things, but keep quiet when it comes to alcohol and drugs. Studies have shown that over fifty percent of children, who die from an alcohol and or drug related death, have parents that are alcoholics or various other types of addicts. Many people have become interested in this topic. There are people on either side of the argument, but many more people appear to be siding with the no drinking side. So many lives have been saved by this law; in fact, this law has saved more lives than most laws combined. It has become noticed that in the past month 26.4% under-aged people have use alcohol, and binge drinking among the same age group was 17.4%. this shows how unknowing and inattentive parents can be. If a child knows that they will be able to do something that they are not supposed to, they will do it. Peer pressure is a huge factor of alcohol abuse amongst teens. Recently, a news station did a report on peer pressure. They had three kids under video surveillance and they had a man drive up in an ice cream truck. After the kids got their ice cream the man asked if they wanted to see a tour of the truck. (The news team was trying to see if only one or two would get in the truck or if all three got in because of each other). The first two kids went into the truck without hesitation. The third kid was very cautious, but even he got in the truck. It is the same way with alcohol, if 90% of a party is drinking, chances are the other 10% will start drinking as well because they feel left out or uncool. Drinking alcohol is like putting poison in your body. It will hurt you no matter what age you are. Sometimes it will affect your mind, other times your body. People don’t realize what damage one drink can do to them because they haven’t ever read a document like this before. People who drink don’t even realize how much it will affect their social status, no one will want to hang out with them and or even be their friend. Some people will even laugh at them as a sign of disrespect. It is sad to see this happening to someone, but you must know that it is their own fault. People whom drink alcohol regularly are generally unhappy, unwanted, unloved, just plain old disliked. Don’t be the town drunk, but don’t be the person who pities him either. Drinking has ruined the economic lives of many as well. You may be out driving around doing errands or something and see a man hold a cardboard sign asking for money. Facts about this man are probably that he has bad luck, he is unemployed, and he is an alcoholic. You may be thinking that these are just a bunch of stereo-types, but in reality studies have proven these to be true. It has also been proven that if you give them money they will loose it, have it stolen from them, spend it on beer or drugs, or just waste it. It has been proven that they only use it for something useful 18% of the time. 18% just think about that number for a while.