The drinking age should be lowered to age 18.

We Would All be Better off if the Drinking Age were 18 "I think we would all be better off if the drinking age were 18," says the President of Dartmouth College, Dr. James Wright. He remembers the days before the drinking age was raised to 21. At that time academic departments had open house and served sherry, students commonly gathered with faculty with drinks. Dr. Wright says "I think it's unfortunate we find ourselves in the position that we enforce a law that most of us believe doesn't treat students as adults." 1 President Wright emphasizes that "if the nation could send 18-year-olds to Iraq and if the College could send its students to off-campus programs in places where drinking was not regulated below age 21, then it should be deemed reasonable that students be able to drink legally at age 18 in the United States. Consider the fallacy of the prohibition that now governs almost every U.S. institution of higher learning. At freshman orientation, half of the students are already "regular" drinkers by some definition. The newcomers immediately become members of a peculiarly narrow community. Almost everyone is within a five-year age bracket. Through fraternities, sororities, other social organizations, dating, and less formal socializing, this narrow age group (18-22) thoroughly intermingles. Yet in any social setting where alcohol is present, the law says those 21 and older may drink beer, wine and distilled spirits in unlimited quantities as long as they do not drive or appear intoxicated in public; those age 20 years, 364 days or younger must stick with soft drinks or become lawbreakers. Should anyone be surprised that zero tolerance is met with rebellion and rule breaking? Outlandish behavior is a typical reaction to prohibition, which is why the illegal speakeasies were always bawdier than the public bars that the Volstead Act shut down. The modern age-based prohibition seems to be working no better than the 1920s version; while a smaller percentage of young adults are now drinking, a sizable minority is drinking recklessly. Is there a ready solution? We offer one for consideration and debate: a provisional drinking license. The current United States legal drinking age is 21. Many United States citizens disagree with this age. Many believe that the age to legally be able to purchase, consume or possess alcohol should be 18. A United States Citizen is allowed to vote when they are 18 years of age. 18 year old males are forced to join the Selective Service, for possible drafting. This means that 18-year old males can go to war. At age 18, a citizen is also inclined to jury duty. So, an 18-year old is given the responsibilities of voting, being selected for jury duty, and possibly being drafted for war. If an 18-year old citizen is to be given these responsibilities, why is the legal drinking age 21? Does the U.S. Government not trust those of us under 21? They trust us with their votes, yet they cannot treat us like full adults for another 3 years! Surely that does not seem such as justice. When drinking is legal, it takes place in the open, where it can be supervised by police, security guards and even health-care workers. When the drinking age went up, the spigot wasn't turned off, it was simply moved underground--to homes or cars or frat-house basements--where no adult could keep an eye on things. When kids who are drinking on the sly do venture out, they often "pre-load" first, fueling up on as much alcohol as they can hold before the evening begins so that the buzz lasts as long as possible. As for the reduction in traffic fatalities? Skeptics believe it may have less to do with changing the drinking age than with the new mores about drunk driving and the more aggressive enforcement of DUI laws. It works in other countries A good example is United Kingdom. The legal drinking age is 18 years for purchasing these alcoholic beverages however; they can drink this when they are only 5 years old with permission of their parents. Most countries have a legal drinking age of 18 years but there are several countries in Europe with a lower drinking age of 16 years old like Belgium, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Italy and some others. There are even countries with no legal drinking age at all like Armenia and some others. The laws are changing all the time and it should be wise to have the same legal drinking age in all the countries of the world. The United States may already be lowering the drinking age " all quoted from article " Despite the risk of penalties, however, seven US states are exploring lowering the drinking age - partly for under-age Iraq war vets and more broadly in recognition that teenagers are going to drink anyway. "If you can take a shot on the battlefield you ought to be able to take a shot of beer legally," said Fletcher Smith, who has sponsored legislation to lower the drinking age in South Carolina. Kentucky, Wisconsin, and South Carolina have introduced legislation to lower the drinking age for troops to 18. Four other states - Missouri, South Dakota, Minnesota, and most recently Vermont - would extend the privilege to the general population. However, South Dakota would only allow 18-20 year olds to buy low-alcohol beer. Advocates of a lower drinking age argue that teenagers are drinking, and that the secrecy encourages binge drinking among young people. "Our laws aren't working. They're not preventing underage drinking. What they're doing is putting it outside the public eye," Hinda Miller, a Vermont state senator, told reporters yesterday, after a committee took up her bill to study lowering the drinking age. "So you have a lot of kids binge drinking. They get sick, they get scared and they get into trouble and they can't call because they know it's illegal." http://www.guardian.co.uk... "back to my words" so, it works in other countries, you can vote, you can go to war, it is under consideration, and the already started rebellion would be quelled. So lower the drinking age to 18