For thirty-two years, the drinking age has been twenty-one, previously being eighteen. Since then, there has been a substantial movement throughout the United States to lower it again. Reasons for a lower age vary, although the most striking one is safety. The reason for it's original change was to try and prevent alcohol related incidents involving teens. There are many facts and statistics that show that the drinking age being moved to twenty-one only increase the incidents. While this topic is of high importance in society, there are well thought out points from both sides of the spectrum. Alcohol related incidents occur far too often in this nation and there is a correct age for which it should be sold and consumed. The United States needs to find this age before the accidents that occur and life styles that are formed get too bad. Teens and young adults need to be aware of the danger that alcohol presents whether it be while operating a vehicle or the amount that he or she consumes. This awareness can only come if the drinking age is lowered. If the drinking age in the United States was lowered, teens and young adults would be more aware of the dangers of alcohol, and it would make society much safer than it is today. 

Throughout the duration of my research, I have been aiming to find out what the best possible solution in this country would be for our legal drinking age. I plan to put together both sides of the argument, while concluding it with my own claim and belief. There are clearly two sides to this argument. One side is the side of the people who are content with the drinking age. Throughout research it is clear that these people believe that the drinking age of twenty-one has been substantially safer to this country. Mostly, these people have argued about the drinking and driving incidents that have happened throughout the nation and the increase of them. While acknowledging that important argument, most of the time these people failed to recognize the importance of alcohol education and how the drinking age of twenty-one fails to educate teens. This is where the other side of the argument comes in. The people who believe the drinking age should be eighteen again, are those who argue the importance of educating our youth or teens, before they get into the real world, i..e college. This argument is crucial because according to them, the current drinking age causes people to now binge drink and alcohol poisoning has become more common. Both sides to this argument are well put together to each has their own facts. Though a very tough argument to chose a side, I do believe that the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen again. I plan to implement this into my project. There are many reasons why I believe the drinking age should be eighteen. This is not because I am a nineteen year old college student who wants to drink all the time. It is because I see the everyday life of under age students who continue to show their inexperience selves drinking downtown and either getting citations because they did something student or throwing up and passing out somewhere because they did not know their limit.

As mentioned, the biggest reason the drinking age should be changed is safety. All of the articles that were read that believed the drinking age should be lowered mentioned safety. An article that was almost completely about safety was the CNN article, "Should the U.S. Lower its Drinking Age?'' This article is about a Brown University anthropology professor who believes that the U.S. drinking age should be lowered. The interesting attention grabber shocks the reader when it says the Professor Heath thinks that the age should be lowered to as young as 6 years old. It goes on to explain that this is not to get kids drunks, although it is to get them familiar with the use of alcohol and protect them from the peer pressure of the teenage years. This article has many claims and arguments along with facts although it can be summed up in one quote by Heath. He says, "In general, the younger people start to drink, the safer they are."  This idea is common as it is seen in this argument throughout the nation. The younger that people begin to drink, the sooner they begin to understand the risks that it holds. As mentioned in this article, the amount that the young people would drink does not have to be a lot, it can be in portions enough to educate the individual slowly as they age into the teen and adult years. Nothing is more important than the safety of young Americans, and in today's society with alcohol being present in many young lives, safety is absolutely necessary. 

Safety was seen through many of the articles researched. While safety was the most essential point in most of the articles there were often sub topics that would show how this issue presents multiple issues. In a CBS article, "The Debate on Lowering the Drinking Age," the author article reports that over 100 college presidents have made a stand to move the drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one. The president's reason for this change is that the only thing that the drinking age limit does is push underage drinkers to drink "underground" and also binge drink when they are of age. These presidents argue that lowering the drinking age will make kids safer. Major stakes in this article are the fact that Presidents of well-known universities are putting themselves out there to be heard and the college age students that are underage drinking. It is a big deal when presidents of schools such as Dartmouth or Duke are making claims such as lowering the drinking age. This creates a large debate because these men and women are well-respected and very knowledgeable especially when dealing with underage kids at the college level. The fact that college age kids are known to be drinking and authorities know it is happening creates unsafe environments, which makes for a notable stake as well.  These stakes show the importance of this issue and that these high level people are putting everything on the line. These are people who deal with this issue often and understand the importance of safety. As the Presidents acknowledged, binge drinking is also a major issue. This was the sub topic of this article. Binge drinking can be put along the lines of safety because it is extremely unsafe. What the presidents are saying and many others say as well, is that forcing people to wait to drink and then letting them get to college or just turn twenty-one, will create them to go crazy and drink in huge amounts. This is unsafe for college campuses and people who are just turning twenty-one. Finding this article was a great use of back-up as people's ideas such as these Presidents are well valued. A strong push such as this, must be made to lower the drinking age and create safer environments. 

On the opposing side of the argument, it was hard to find multiple credible sources that give a sufficient and factual amount of information that proves the drinking age should be kept the same. There was a U.S. News & World Report article that did have some evidence and arguments that the drinking age should be kept the same. This article, "The Debate is Over-Higher Drinking Age Saves Lives," is an article out of U.S. News & World Report that argues the drinking age of twenty-one has saved lives. This is mainly due to alcohol-related traffic fatalities being underage drivers. This article shows more research that the drinking age of 21 does not create more binge drinking, which is a common debate. The biggest stake in this article is the lives that the drinking age have saved. Being that this study has been proved, saving 900 lives a year is a major deal and should be used in the argument. The writer of this source is credible on this topic because of the source that she writes for and the research she did. U.S. News is a credible news center and is looked at for news every day. For this topic, it is credible because it has research in this article that is directly given to prove it's claim. Credibility helps this argument because there were so few articles found pushing for keeping the drinking age the same. This may be because the drinking age should actually be moved or because the people simply want change. Whatever the case may be, despite this article, all signs lead to the age being lowered again. 

A video that was researched, gave great evidence on why the age should be changed. Although this Fox News video is only a small example, it shows how the drinking age effects lives throughout the country daily. This is a video of a news report done a few years ago that debates lowering the drinking age because of incidents happening throughout the U.S. This source is credible because it is a news channel and on T.V. This channel does not have any bias on the subject although who they bring in to talk clearly has their own bias. Their talking brings bias because of the words that they use and the tone in which they bring to the table. They use examples of drunk driving accidents and lack of education throughout the country to present their case. After watching this video, it only showed me that the United States needs to lower the drinking age sooner before the number of people being effected multiplies. 

When researching, it was helpful to find sources that debated in itself to show the reader why it's argument was correct. A scholarly journal that I found, did just that and used it's own sources to prove why they were correct. This specific journal entry was titled, "Will Increasing Alcohol Availability By Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences Among Youths? " While reading this article there were many examples of the use of other sources and evidence to back up it's case. This article had a clear push to lower the drinking age and unlike the others, it had many reasons. The most evident reason was a education of alcohol at a young age to prevent adulthood abuse of alcohol. The author writes, "Drinking alcohol most commonly begins during adolescence and early initiation of alcohol use is associated with alcohol problems in adulthood." This is an important fact because it is the most commonly brought up point throughout all the articles. If this is the case, then something needs to be done. After reading this the thought of why something hadn't been done struck. I then read, "In recognition of the harms caused by underage drink- ing the US Surgeon General issued a Call to Action in 2007 to pre- vent and reduce drinking among youths." What happened was, many states began to initiate their own rules and create lower drinking ages because they thought it was safer. This began to happen and the United States as a whole never followed, making the drinking age enforced at twenty-one throughout the entire country. Nothing has been done since. 

Throughout the research of the alcohol age limit, there are clear common reasons as to why the drinking age needs to be lowered. From safety to education, the youth of the United States are inevitably going to face dangerous lives if something is not done. For people to go to college and not know anything about drinking is dangerous. For people to get in a car and have to worry about some teen drinking and driving because he or she did not know what it was like to be drunk is unfortunate. The situation has dragged out entirely too long and needs to be fixed right away. There is a clear and sufficient amount of credible people that can change this law. The type of people that have spoken need to be listened to, as they are people who are involved with young adults and alcohol often. If this is fixed there will be a noticeable drop in incidents throughout the country and society will be safer.  

