The USA should lower the drinking age to 13 to promote more responisible drinking

To my opponent. I accept your reasons and I appreciate your consideration and rationale. You gave more response than was necessary. I did not need a long winded answer, I know space is limited in these debates. I hope this did not adversely affect your ability to present you position. 1. My opponent feels the US population is unable to handle drinking at a younger age. However for his specific point offers nothing but an opinion. The truth is underage drinking occurs regardless of the legality. My opponents assertion is that the legality prevents adolescents from obtaining alcohol, however his own round 2 discussion disqualifies is own assertion as he correctly points out there is no correlation between the legal age of drinking and the fact of underage consumption. There is no statistic specific to 13 years, however according to the CDC 11% of all alcohol is consumed in the US is by people aged 12-20. And about 1 in 4 8th graders (which is the closest I can find to 13 years old) have consumed alcohol beverages. Despite the current laws, they aren"t working and adolescents are consuming alcohol. The only thing the current law does is create criminal and does nothing to alter the consumption of alcohol. http://www.cdc.gov... . 3. The burden is my opponents to prove his assertion that early exposure for youths to alcohol consumption will not promote a more responsible environment. For my opponent to prove his assertion, he must demonstrate raising the age of alcohol will have a positive correlation in reducing youth alcohol consumption. Does my opponent believe that raising the age to 25 or a prohibition will promote more responsible drinking? If my opponent cannot prove that increasing the age of legal alcohol consumption will promote more responsible drinking, how can he possibly believe or demonstrate that lowering it will result in less responsible drinking? 4.My position is alcohol consumption occurs already, and by teaching responsibility, by changing the paradigm and the "rebellious" nature of underage drinking, will remove the "cool" stigma and lead to a reduction in alcohol consumption among youth. When alcohol is legal go offer younger people, families will feel more comfortable with allowing youth to consume alcohol and not fear legal problems. As parents share in a glass of wine, or beer this teaches the youth responsibility in how to handle alcohol. The parent has the opportunity to say to his child, you have had enough and discuss the responsibility the same way one learns how to drive. 5. One does not turn 17 and suddenly is given the keys to a car. There is a period of time where the parent is in the car, observing, talking, and teaching about the responsibilities of driving. The same is true about lower drinking ages as it allows for the opportunity to teach Responsibility. Responsibility is the point of my opponents debate. The current paradigm forces youth who drink to do so without supervision which allows them only the peer pressure as a measure of guidance. Or those who wait until they are 21, again do so without supervision and tend to start that 21st birthday off with in a drunken stupor. 6.My opponent makes a very valid claim about the adolescent brain development not being complete and exposure to alcohol at a young age does increase risks of other systemic problems including addiction. However, caffeine and video games are even more prone to effect the developing brain. In one study caffeine increased depression and addiction. It was claimed to be a gateway drug to other stimulats. Video games are annually claimed to have a negative effect on the developing psyche of a child. Youth who listen to rap music are 250% more likely to be arrested and 300% more likely to be violent towards a teacher. http://www.webmd.com... The question is, is it the place of the government to regulate all these things to protect children? If we are going to teach responsibility " my opponents assertion - that happens at younger ages not waiting till 21 and allowing the binge to start. 7. My opponent is unable to find a single study providing even a casual correlation to the legal drinking age, and rates of alcohol fatalities or addiction. If there was such a study showing such a link to the legal drinking age and addiction or fatalities, my opponent would have highlighted this as a main point in his argument had one existed. The problem with alcohol in the US is attitudes. Alcohol becomes a right of passage. My incorporating more into every day life and removing the stigma attached to it, many of today"s alcohol related problems would be lessened.