student reviews

Underage Drinking: The argument from both Sides

Joseph Toole

09 Aug 2013

ENG 2001 S04

Instructor: Gary Henry

Lowering the drinking age limit will decrease binge drinking, no, keeping the drinking age higher has saved lives. This argument to either lower the age or keep it the same has been in place for 25 years and is showing no signs of improvement. Both sides of this argument present good views that could have you on either side. This essay goes through the articles that were researched and goes over all views from both side of the argument.

After going through the pros and cons of underage drinking I have pulled out some very important views and very interesting points on both sides of the argument that will hopefully be useful for the final essay. The first article I read up on was from the Los Angeles Times, it is called, Pro/Con: Should Legal Drinking Age be Lowered to 18? This article along with a few more, will be to main articles used in my final essay for my argument. Everyone knows that people under 21 consume alcohol. They can witness it first hand or see it in pictures and posts on their facebook page. Many of these underage drinkers do not know their drinking limit and causes alcohol poisoning for those who consume too much and eventually becomes fatal (Ogilvie.J, 2011). "Some experts say the solution is to lower the legal drinking age to 18" (Ogilvie.J, 2011). According to Dr. David J. Hanson, a sociologist who works at State University of New York at Potsdam has been studying alcohol and drinking for 40 years. He says," What we're doing now to prevent underage drinking isn't working; it's time to try something else" (Ogilvie.J, 2011). Looking at the same article, I have moved to the other side of the argument of whether or not the age limit should be changed or stay the same. "Keeping the drinking age at 21 has saved lives, and there's no reason to fix what isn't broken"(Ogilvie.J, 2011). According to James C. Fell, a senior program director at the Alcohol, Policy and Safety Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation, "Binge Drinking among eighth, 10th and 12th graders has been steadily going down since age was raised to 21"(Ogilvie.J, 2011). He also goes on saying that in colleges, there has not been much progress, then states, "but lowering the drinking age is not the answer" (Ogilvie.J, 2011).

The American Journal of Public put out an article called, "Will Increasing Alcohol Availability by Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences among Youths". It was written by Henry Wechsler and Toben Nelson. This article does present some similar ideas as the one above. However, this article is geared toward keeping the drinking age limit at 21. There have been many efforts by many organizations to try and lower the drinking age limit to 18. One in particular is the Amethyst Initiative which has been signed by many University and College presidents to try and lower the drinking limit to 18. "This policy change is a central feature of a campaign its organizers contend will help young adults aged 18 to 20 years make healthy decisions about alcohol and lead to reductions in drinking and its negative effects" (Wechsler and Nelson, 2010). There are a lot of repercussions if this were to be passed. In order for this to work, it requires a lot of consideration and participation from the public health community. Looking at the negatives currently with alcohol consumption, it is the third leading actual cause of death in the United States, it contributes to unintentional injuries and is the leading cause of death in our youth and young adults and accounts for 75,00 deaths in the United States Annually. It contributes to many adverse and social consequences such as physical and sexual assault, unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infection, violence, vandalism, crime, overdose, other substance use and high risk behavior and contributes to heavy burden of social and health costs(Wechsler and Nelson, 2010). This article provides many statistics and crucial information that will prove to be very useful in my final essay.

The Wall Street Journal, "Old enough to Fight, Old Enough to Drink", article by Glenn Harlan Reynolds, is article that is for lowering the age limit. The title screams its position on the matter. "The Old enough to fight, old enough to drink, argument has force. In fact, 18 year olds in America are old enough to do pretty much everything except drink. Along with joining the military, 18 year olds can vote, marry, sign contracts, and even take on crippling lifetime burden of student loan debt in pursuit of an education that may never land them a job. Yet we face the absurd phenomenon of colleges encouraging students to go onto six figure debt which can be discharged in bankruptcy but forbidding them to drink on campus because they're deemed mature to appreciate the risks" (Reynolds. G, 2011). This is what his argument is based around along with using the military and the Amethyst Initiative that was explained in the previous article.

After going through "Lowering the Drinking Age Won't Curb Binge Drinking: Study", from Asian News International, I was a little surprised. This article is actually about what has taken place in the United States. Richard A. Scribner, of Louisiana State University School of Public Health, was a researcher for a new study that incorporated using a mathematical model to show the effects that would come from lowering the age limit and how it would curb binge drinking. This article explains the reasoning behind the new study. After reading through it and seeing the results, this article will be used in the argument for those who are against lowering the argument.

The last couple of articles that I read through are of recent incidences where alcohol was involved causing things like rape, suicide and alcohol poisoning which lead to a college freshman's death. These articles will be used as examples of the repercussions of underage drinking at the current day and age. The first article from the Los Angeles Times called "Drunkenness isn't Consent", by Sandy Banks, is about two high school football stars that raped a 16 year old girl at a party and the consequences they face now with the law. Another article from the New York Times called "Arrests in a Freshman's Drinking Death Reflect a Tougher Approach", by Steven Yaccino, is about a 19 year college freshman who died during a fraternity initiation where drinking was involved, caused his death. This is another article of the repercussions of underage drinking and what happens to those involved. Whether you are the one drinking or the one forcing those to drink, consequences will follow. The last article from the Los Angeles Times is called, "The whole School knows", and it is written by Kate Mather. The article is about a young girl who was raped by three teenage boys at a party and the school she went found out about what happened to her and began to make fun of her and she ended up committing suicide. The three boys have been charged with sexual assault. Again this is another article that shows what happens with underage drinking and the consequences that follow with it.

In conclusion, both sides of this argument present excellent information and some very interesting views. It is tough to argue one side especially after reading these articles. If you choose whether to lower the age, there are going to be repercussions. If you keep the age where it is, we are still seeing problems and more controversial arguments. Which side presents the best argument?

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