The US should lower the legal drinking age to 18

Here I will make my points: 1. Lowering the legal drinking age to 18 would be medically dangerous Alcohol consumption can interfere with development of the young adult brain's frontal lobes, essential for functions such as emotional regulation, planning, and organization. When alcohol consumption interferes with early adult brain development, the potential for chronic problems such as greater vulnerability to addiction, dangerous risk-taking behavior, reduced decision-making ability, memory loss, depression, violence, and suicide is greater. Studies by the National Institute of Mental Health using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques show that the brain continues to grow and develop into young adulthood (at least to the mid-twenties). Thus, drinking at the age of 18 would cause potential harm to this stage of development. 2. It will allow a larger portion of the population to drink in bars and nightclubs, which are not safe environments. Regarding crimes in bars, it is stated that "The overwhelming majority of attackers and victims are young men (18 to 29 years old). Many young men gather and drink alcohol to establish machismo, bond with one another, and compete for women"s attention. " (Marsh and Kibby) Las Vegas, a city with many bars and nightclubs, has higher crime rates in every kind of crime when compared to the US average. The districts and streets where bars and nightclubs are located at have high crime rate as well compared to the rest of the city. It is said and proved that economic conditions, such as unemployment is a root cause for crime. It has also been proved that a majority of drinkers are unemployed or are in poor economic conditions. Thus, it is safe to assume that bars or nightclubs are unsafe places as people will be at a higher risk of being a victim in those places. 3. Responsibility Many rights in the United States are conferred on citizens at age 21 or older. A person cannot legally purchase a handgun, gamble in a casino (in most states), or adopt a child until age 21, rent a car (for most companies) at age 25, or run for President until age 35. Drinking should be similarly restricted due to the responsibility required to self and others. Drinking not only causes harm if an addiction grows but also interferes with logical thinking and may worsen relationships or cause loss of ability to handle emotions. Drinking alcohol can affect our judgement and reasoning, slow down our reaction, upset our sense of balance and coordination, impair our vision and hearing, as well as make us lose concentration and feel drowsy. 4. The current age limit reduces traffic accidents and fatalities Studies of the legal drinking age and traffic accidents found that higher legal drinking ages are associated with lower rates of traffic accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that MLDA 21 decreased the number of fatal traffic accidents for 18- to 20-year-olds by 13% and saved approximately 27,052 lives from 1975-2008. Drink-drive accidents account for 16% of road deaths in the UK, while in Japan, where the legal drinking age is 20, drink-drive accidents only account for less than 10% of road deaths. (The number of road deaths is also extremely small, being 4403. ) Concerning Morocco, where the legal drinking age is 17, road crashes in 2009 caused the deaths of 3,946 people and wounded 103,180 persons. On average, 10 people die in traffic accidents and 200 others are injured by road accidents every day. This is cited from information provided by the Moroccan Ministry of Equipment and Transport. Alcohol has been repeatedly proven to be an important factor in road safety, which is why drink-driving is illegal. A study by the Department of Transportation in Japan showed that 58,421 male drivers were involved in traffic accidents during the 10-year study period, and that 271 of these were killed as a result of the accident. Alcohol use was significantly associated with speed, seat belt use, time, and road form. Among male motorcar drivers, the odds ratio of alcohol use before driving, after adjusting for age, calendar year, time, and road form, was 4.08 (95% confidence interval, 3.08"5.40), which means that about 75% of fatalities (attributable risk percent among exposed) might have been prevented if drivers had not drunk before driving. It was concluded that alcohol use before driving resulted in a 4.08-fold increase in the risk of death in a traffic accident. It is suggested that alcohol use is considered an important risk factor for fatality in traffic accidents. The more people who can legally drink and buy alcoholic drinks, the more drink-drivers there will be. 5. The current age limit promotes a healthier population In a 2002 meta-study, it was found that higher legal drinking ages were associated with lower alcohol consumption. In 2009, the NHTSA found that the percentage of weekend nighttime drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration of .08 or higher declined from 5.4% in 1986 (after the MLDA was raised to 21) to 2.2% in 2007. Less alcohol consumption, better health, thus less drinkers, healthier population. 6. Lowering the limit would give more underage drinkers the chance to drink It has been proved that newly-legal drinkers often purchase alcohol for their underage peers, creating a "trickle-down" effect. Surveys show that the most common source of alcohol among 18- to 20-year olds is their 21- to 24-year-old peers. 7. Lowering the limit will encourage use of drugs A peer-reviewed study from the Journal of Studies of Alcohol and Drugs found that the younger a person begins to drink alcohol the more likely they will be to use drugs. Lowering the limit would increase the number of teens who drink and therefore the number of teens who use drugs. References: . https://www.childwelfare.gov... . http://www.city-data.com... . http://www.cato.org... . http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... . https://www.drinkaware.co.uk... . https://www.hsph.harvard.edu... "Youth Access to Alcohol," Alcohol Epidemiology Program at the University of Minnesota (accessed Mar. 22, 2012) . http://www.hawaii.edu... Patrick O'Malley and Alexander C. Wagenaar, "Minimum Drinking Age Laws: Effects on American Youth," Institute for Social Research, www. monitoringthefuture. org, 1990 Alexander C. Wagenaar and Traci L. Toomey, "Effects of Minimum Drinking Age Laws: Review and Analyses of the Literature from 1960 to 2000," Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 2002