The Drinking Age of 21, should be lowered to 18.

Thank you, and yes hopefully it will be. Now for the statements my opponent made that were made to essentially kill my argument. 1. My argument is not essentially "if there doing it anyway. Let them do it." My argument is based off personal experiences, most minors i know who do commit the act of drinking underage. Only do so because of the risk factor and the rush it brings when they are drinking. My argument is that when these people become 21 and can legally drink they more or less lose to will to drink as much as they used to when they were younger. Thus leading directly into my second point If they lose their will to drink excessively it will cut down on the amount of binge drinking that goes on college campuses and even high schools. So how can you argue a moral stance when i am arguing that lowering the age would cause the teenagers of today and tomorrow to live slightly better lives? Since they won't be going off to drink in a friend's car, or basement or even worse in some vacant lot. For if the age was lowered to 18 those kids drinking on the corners or drinking in someone's car, or basement will now be able to go over to a bar and grab a drink. I'm just going to skip into point three since i feel i adequately defend my first 2 points. 3. Though i can see your point on drinking becoming more of a tease to minors that are 16 and 17 i feel with the age being set to 18 it can cause some teens to wait till they are 18 before they drink. For it won't kill them to wait a year or two. Now then onto the points you made for the con stance. 1. If the brain is not fully developed till anywhere between 21-25 then wouldn't it be safe to say we should also limit the exposure of young people to cigarettes, and anything else that can affect the way the brain develops? You state that young adults will not be able to handle themselves with drinking, i for one know i can i handle myself and if i ever decide to have drink i will not drink to get drunk as so many people i know do. I find that disgusting and only a portal to poor decisions. Which is why i feel that if the age is lowered to 18 the mindset of a minor who drinks will shift from "oh no when am i going to be able to drink again? or Oh no i hope i don't get caught!" To a simpler "hmm, i feel a buzz coming on, i think i will stop and maybe take another drink tomorrow, or maybe I'll wait for the weekend." I've seen this occur in many friends of mine who turn 21 and go from heavy binge drinkers to quiet social drinkers. It's actually pretty funny to watch if you know people like that. 2. Sure those first few months of a young adults life will be hectic once there legally allowed to drink but once the "cool down" period begins or the time where they realize they don't need to buy 15 different drinks every night. They will slowly begin to calm down and become more of a social drinker. The facts of this have been proven worldwide; Look at the U.K. and Ireland. for example, in the U.K. i believe the age for drinking is 16, and for Ireland, i don't think they even have age, (Just joking of course) but in those two countries where drinking is very prevalent the young adults over there function sometimes better than the young adults over here who do not drink at all. Onto the rights portion, how can you say a teenager at the age of 18 is allowed to die for their country but is not allowed to kick back and drink a cold one? Talk about a moral hypocrisy of our nation, honestly if you think about that, perhaps we should make the age of military service 21 instead of 18? 3. I feel you should have included this point with your first point. Though it is valid i strongly feel that though there will be a slight time when a person becomes 18 if the age is lowered of course that will result in a slight loss of brain cells, but again once that "cool down" period begins, it should at least slightly return to normal. Oh and on the college thing, that point is dead on and i have to agree with you on that, it is not some huge party, and believe me i was in the same exact boat as you for HS, and now college, but i still stand by my point that lowering the age to 18 will have much more good associated with it then bad. Now then, i believe the ball is in your court.