Drinking Age | Teen Ink

Drinking Age

June 7, 2011
By Dmitri Fredericks BRONZE, Lake Forest Park, Washington
Dmitri Fredericks BRONZE, Lake Forest Park, Washington
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

When you drink, you can die. The current drinking age is 21. Drinking age is controversial because some people believe it should be lowered so they can drink sooner, and some believe drinking is bad and shouldn’t be allowed until a later age. For these reasons, I think the drinking age should stay at age 21.


The first reason to not lower the drinking age to 18 is alcohol slows your reflexes, which can cause you to get in a car crash. According to toosmarttostart.gov, 5,000 people under age 21 die from alcohol-related accidents annually, and about half of those are car accidents. That’s why we don’t want people to drink before age 21.


Drinking also affects the brain and its development. Studies show that 40% of those who drink before the age of fifteen develop the habit later in life. This means that those people will be drinking and further restricting their mental growth.


Despite the facts, some people might argue that the drinking age should be lowered. They think they should get to drink because other people get to. There is no benefit to drinking, however, so seeking a lower drinking age is a pointless endeavor.





In conclusion, drinking only has debilitating effects, and there’s no reason to drink, especially when driving. I have a close friend that I have made recently, and if he were hurt or killed by a drunk driver I would be sad. Alcohol is not something to use frequently, if ever. Therefore, alcohol will harm you, and may make you hurt someone else.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.