F. Scott Fitzgerald, American short-story writer and novelist, once said, "Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right."  Alcohol has been a worldwide symbol for thousands of years.  In fact, it has been consumed for such a long time now that humans today do not even know the exact date in which it was discovered.  We do, however, know that it was consumed as long ago as 2100 BC when the Babylon worshipped a wine goddess.  So why is the consumption of alcohol seen as such a risky activity in the United States? Simply put, one of the answers to this question is "binge drinking." For law enforcement agencies, there is currently not a feeling of priority in enforcing the drinking age of twenty-one.  Because of this, teens continue to drink in unsupervised areas, leading to the problem of binge drinking, alcohol poisoning, and death.  Even though the United States considers a person an adult at the age of 18, it is still 1 of only 11 countries that has a drinking age of 21; there are 196 countries.  If the MLDA in the United States were lowered, eighteen-year-olds could finally add the right to consume alcohol to their rights as adults.  Moreover, The consumption of alcohol could be more easily monitored on college campuses and fewer drunk driving accidents would occur because of the decrease in desire to binge drink.  So what?  Why should anyone be concerned about the MLDA in the United States?  This is important because lowering the drinking age would save lives.  

In a study of 452 children between the ages of eight and eighteen, 38% had tried alcohol by the age of eight and 66% had tried alcohol by the age of twelve; 16% of sixteen-year-olds had participated in binge drinking at some point in their lives and 96% of people had tried alcohol by the age of eighteen.  Kelly E. Courtney, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, and colleagues point out that binge drinking is the practice of consuming large quantities of alcohol in a single session, usually defined as five or more drinks at one time for a man, or four or more drinks at one time for a woman.  Additionally, they state that binge drinking is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.  Furthermore, it has ties to suicide, alcohol poisoning, hypertension, and many other disorders.  Dr. Alexander C. Wagenaar, Professor of Public Health at the University of Florida, and his colleague note that 92% of high school seniors report consuming alcohol in their lifetimes and 64% report being current consumers of alcohol.  Moreover, they state that 35% of these seniors report being regular binge drinkers.  Along the same lines, David J. Hanson, a profound journalist, states that over 2/3 of the American population are drinkers.  Barry, an Associate Professor of Health Education at Texas A&M University, and his colleagues note that while conducting a study, they found that underage drinkers reported a drastically less level of confidence to drink alcohol responsibly as compared to legal drinkers.  This study accounted for sex and race, and was no statistically significant difference in those factors.  Why do these young people feel that they cannot consume alcohol responsibly?  The answer most likely lies in the fact that they do not know when the next time they will be able to drink will be.  Because eighteen year olds are considered adults but not allowed to drink alcohol, the activity of drinking seems like the forbidden fruit.  It is no question that people of this age are able to get their hands on alcoholic beverages.  Whether it be their legally-aged friends buying it for them or their use of fake ID's, alcohol is easily accessible even if it is illegal to someone of their age.  In Return the Drinking Age to 18, and Enforce It, Gabrielle Glaser, author and award winning journalist, claims that the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen because the current drinking age of twenty-one has not stopped underage people from drinking, but rather it has "driven it underground." She proves this by stating that the number of cases of alcohol poisoning among eighteen to twenty-four year olds rose from 779 cases to 2,290.  

Camille Paglia, academic and social critic and Professor at the University of the Arts, points out that eighteen-year-olds, who have full rights as adults, should be able to consume alcoholic beverages.  Anyone who can get married, be considered free of parental consent, sign the lease to a house/apartment under their own name, and make many other important decisions should be considered mature enough to drink an alcoholic beverage.  If someone can make the decision to take a 50 caliber bullet for his/her country, then he/she should be able to drink a 12-ounce beer on that country's soil. Carla T. Main, a profound journalist who practiced law in New York City for ten years, points out that the minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one was originally established when one's right to vote and many other rights as adults were also at the age of twenty-one.  If every other right as an adult was lowered to the age of eighteen at the time -- and has stayed that way -- then the minimum legal drinking age for alcohol consumption should also be 18.  Paglia states that 70% of U.S. teenagers have had at least one drink by the time they are eighteen, thus making the current MLDA of 21 irrelevant.  Additionally, she brings light to the fact that in most countries with a Minimum Legal Drinking Age of 18, they see the consumption of alcohol as a cultural aspect, rather than a "forbidden fruit."  If the United States of America strives to be one of the most advanced countries in the world, then why do we, as a nation, still not recognize the advancement we could make through the benefits of lowering the drinking age?

Today, the consumption of alcohol is extremely prevalent on college campuses.  Because most college students do not turn twenty-one until their junior year, they have two years of underage drinking in college until this.  Many college students use fake ID's that allow them to drink alcohol in bars.  On the other hand, if underage students are looking to drink alcohol, they will often "pregame" in a secluded place before going out as to not get caught with alcohol.  Pregaming often involves drinking an excessive amount of alcohol before leaving the current location in order to stay intoxicated or "buzzed" before a party or event.   Years ago, this wasn't necessary.  In the article Time to Lower the Drinking Age, former White House speechwriter for George W. Bush and contributing editor for U.S. News and World Report, Mary Kate Cary, writes:

"I was telling my college-age daughter recently that back in the olden days when I went to college, you could fill a red Solo cup with beer at a fraternity party and sip it all night long. No one knew if it was your first beer or your 10th. There was no need for "pregaming"  --  binge drinking in private apartments or dorms before heading out in public. And unlike today, college kids didn't tend to use fake IDs as much."  

This comment shows just how different alcohol was consumed in society a few decades ago as opposed to now.  By saying this, Cary also establishes the underlying point that alcohol consumption could be more easily monitored on college campuses if the drinking age was lowered to 18.  Think about the number of underage students today who drink alcohol but would be too scared to call for help if a friend was seriously injured or dying of alcohol poisoning.  Many fear getting taken to jail or facing Minor in Possession (MIP) charges.  Additionally, the number of sexual assaults due to excessive alcohol consumption in secluded places would most likely be reduced significantly if the drinking were monitored by responsible individuals.  Mary Kate Cary notes that " ... we can all agree that sexual assault as a result of alcohol and drug abuse is a very serious problem on America's college campuses. But forming a task force in Washington probably won't help. Allowing states to lower the legal drinking age would."  In addition to this, Dr. Harrell Chesson, a health economist in the Division of STD Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his colleagues point out that the rate of STDs in young people increases as taxes on alcohol and the MLDA go up.  EXPAND ON THIS!!!!!!  Dr. Christopher S. Carpenter, Professor of Economics, Professor of Medicine, Health, and Society, and Professor of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University, notes that neighborhoods that contain colleges with high binge drinking rates tend to experience extreme secondhand effects of crime (vandalism, noise disturbances, vomiting).  Because alcohol is so accessible to underage people, it is easier for them to break the law, creating a thrill and a disrespect for law enforcers and higher authority.  This could, perhaps, even creating a trend of law breaking as a person's life progresses, potentially leading to even more dangerous crimes such as dealing drugs.

By lowering the drinking age, the act of binge drinking and making risky decisions would no longer happen in enclosed areas, thus instances of potential, future sexual assaults could be monitored and dealt with before they occur.  At this point one might wonder why the MLDA was even raised to twenty-one in the first place.  The initial purpose of raising the drinking age to twenty-one was to decrease drunk driving accidents.  In 1984, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) started a movement to do something about the large number of drunk driving accidents occurring at the time.  In July of 1984, President Ronald Reagan passed the law that made the MLDA 21.   The number of drunk driving accidents did, in fact decrease.  For this reason, many people are against lowering the drinking age because they feel that it will only promote drinking and driving.  Cary states, however, that stricter laws and better education helped to decrease drunk driving during the time that the minimum legal drinking age was increased to twenty-one.  The statement above explains that, while increasing the drinking age could have contributed to less drunk driving accidents, other factors probably contributed more to the decrease.  Dr. Ruth C. Engs notes in the article, Why the drinking age should be lowered: An opinion based upon research, that the decrease in alcohol-related car accidents in 1980 was not solely due to an increase of the drinking age because that law was not established until 1987. She continues to state that previous laws such as the National Prohibition of the 1820s and state prohibition of the 1850s did not work to combat the drinking problem because of a failure to enforce them.  The change in the MLDA from 18 to 21 did more harm than good.  It did not decrease drunk driving accidents all on its own  --  it only brought sexual assault, drug overdoses, binge drinking, and many other dangers to light.  Previous laws required changing or removing with time, and it is time that the MLDA of 21 be changed as well.

After reviewing all of the aspects of lowering the MLDA to 18, it is obvious that it would be a beneficial step in our society.  It would decrease binge drinking, give eighteen year olds an extra right as adults, allow for the better monitoring of alcohol consumption on college campuses, and decrease drunk driving accidents.  Alcohol is a great symbol of our nation, and it is simply ridiculous that we do not consider our young adults mature enough to responsibly consume it.

