The minimum legal drinking age being of great discussion and controversy in the United States, suggests that further investigations on the whereabouts of alcohol consumption need to be initiated. This controversial topic is viewed differently by all people and with varying perspectives. Some individuals support lowering the minimum legal drinking age, some individuals support no change of the minimum legal drinking age, and some individuals even support raising the minimum legal drinking age in the United States. With these individuals having their own beliefs of what the minimum legal drinking age should be, the minimum drinking age should not be lowered nor raised, rather, it should remain at the age of 21 years-old in the United States. It is most appropriate and beneficial that the minimum legal drinking age remain at 21 years-old for numerous reasons, but most importantly, to avoid future negative consequences such as increased mortality rates and teen pregnancies that can occur as a result of lowering or raising the minimum legal drinking age in the United States.

Underage drinking has become a major problem in the United States, with the minimum legal drinking age being 21 years-old. A national survey reported that about 35.1% of 15 year-olds have had one drink in their lives (NIH). This statistic is quite surprising, because 15 years-old is six years younger than the legal minimum drinking age of 21 years-old. Also, the survey reported that 5.4 million people aged 12-20 years-old have engaged in binge drinking, and 1.4 million people of the same age range have engaged in heavy drinking (NIH). Underage is a risk in itself because it is illegal, but there are multiple other risks too. These risks include death, serious injuries, brain development problems, impaired judgement, and increased risk of sexual assault. It is important to note that 4,358 people under the age of 21 die each year from alcohol related incidents (NIH). Also, about 200,000 people per year visit the emergency room as a result of alcohol consumption (NIH). 

There are also numerous signs of serious underage drinking. These signs consist of behavioral problems in and out of school, memory problems, slurred speech, and less interest in daily activities. These signs can occur at any time during an individual's life because underage age drinking can occur at any time during an individual's life. College drinking has also become increasingly popular in today's world and can be extremely dangerous. It has been reported that four out of five college students consume alcohol and about half do so through binge drinking. Also, about 1,825 college students aged 18-24 die each year as a result of alcohol consumption. Not only does alcohol affect the individual themselves, but there are over 700,000 cases of sexual assault each year on college campuses because of underage drinking and alcohol consumption. Sexual assault has become equally a severe problem in today's world and underage drinking is one of the main attributes leading to this issue. Lastly, about one fourth of college students admit that their underage drinking habits have somewhat affected their overall academic performance. This implies that consuming alcohol can affect study habits, test taking, completely assignments, and be distracting overall to students ("College").

The minimum legal drinking age should remain at 21 years-old for the primary reason that drinking has numerous societal costs. These societal costs include traffic accidents, violence, and crimes, along with all the others mentioned previously. Alcohol has been considered the leading cause of fatal motor vehicle accidents, with 37% of fatally injured drivers aged 16-25 being under the influence of alcohol (Keyes). This statistics demonstrates the severity of the problem because this number is close to 50%. Also, it has been proven that lowering the minimum legal drinking age to 18 years-old would increase the number of annual funerals of teenagers ("Drinking"). More and more teenagers will die in motor vehicle accidents. A credible source in the scientific world, Tara Watson, believes that lowering the minimum legal drinking age would also result in an increase in unintended pregnancies (Watson). This idea is considered reliable and valid for the fact that consuming alcohol impairs an individual's overall mentality and that an individual is more likely to make poor decisions while under the influence of alcohol. An individual's first thought while intoxicated is not protection when engaging in sexual activity. Many people have un-protected sex while intoxicated, increasing their chances of receiving a sexual transmitted disease and impregnation. Another risk of underage drinking is the idea of brain development. Some researchers say that brain development continues into the early twenties and that consuming alcohol prior to the early twenties can be harmful.

In addition, it is important to note that both friends and family have an effect on alcohol use of adolescents. In a study including 1,284 adolescent students from twelve small schools and 976 adolescents from one large school, it was determined that peers strongly influence underage drinking (Wang). Peer pressure is a very common aspect in life and an individual may feel more inclined to consume alcohol underage if others tell them. The study also concluded that adolescents are more willing to consume alcohol underage if they are surrounded by alcohol (Wang). This can be in a social setting such as a party, or even in their own home. Parents need to monitor their children more closely and who their children are associating themselves with. Parents should also enforce the dangers of underage drinking and not condone alcohol assumption unless of legal age. Sometimes the role of a parent is not easy, as some parents would rather be their child's friend instead of protecting them and enforcing the law.

Another major concern relating to the minimum legal drinking age is whether or not a change will make a difference in the number of students who consume alcohol on college and university campuses (Rasual). Because underage drinking is such a problematic issue on campus, colleges are attempting to decrease the number of students that are consuming alcohol (Rasual). Colleges are attempting to decrease the number of students that are consuming alcohol primarily because the resulting actions are negative towards the school's overall profile. The thirty two college campuses that were used to develop this study have gone as far as saying that changing the minimum legal drinking age will not alter the number of students choosing to consume alcohol underage, and in fact, possibly result in an even larger increase (Rasual). If the minimum legal drinking age were to be raised, it is likely that the number of students choosing to consume alcohol would increase. It has already been recorded that underage drinking has accounted for more than 16% of alcohol sales and changing the minimum legal drinking age could possibly increase this number (Miller).

To continue with why the minimum legal drinking age should not be lowered nor raised, is the fact that social media has a major influence on adolescents and young adults. Facebook and Twitter are the two most popular social media sites, that both promote alcoholic beverages through text and images (Moreno). Online displays of alcohol have resulted in risky offline behaviors too. It has also been determined that the number of times the word "drunk" has been tweeted has recently increased and underage alcohol consumption is becoming a serious issues as a result of public advertisement (Moreno). There has also been an increase in the number of images containing alcohol beverages being uploaded to different social media sites (Moreno). Underage drinkers are unaware of the serious consequences and believe their social media accounts are private, when in reality, their accounts can still been seen. If the minimum legal drinking is lowered, this issue will only become worse and adolescent's way younger than 18 years-old will also post inappropriate images on social media. Not only will adolescent's post inappropriate images of them with alcohol, but they may post sexually explicit images on social media while under the influence of alcohol. This idea of images being uploaded to social media is underestimated and can potentially ruin an individual's future career too. Most employers do not want to hire someone with a background or record of underage drinking because these actions are obviously not professional. Continuing with the idea of advertisement, alcohol advertisements have an influence on underage consumption of alcohol. Alcohol advertisements should be minimized to hopefully minimize underage drinking. It has been determined that boys reported significantly more alcohol use than girls, and this could be a result of boys paying more attention to alcohol advertisements compared to girls (Grenard). Advertisements in general are extremely affective, leading to numerous emotional responses of individuals.

Although the minimum legal drinking age should remain at 21 years-old, it can be understood why some people support lowering or raising the minimum legal drinking age in the United States as a counter-argument. One of the biggest claims for why the minimum should be lowered is the fact that 18 years-old is the legal adult age in the United States (Griggs). Many people believe that being 18 years-old should grant the right for an individual to choose whether or not they desire to consume alcohol. However, being a legal adult does not mean that drinking should be legal especially when other harmless actions such as renting a hotel or car are illegal at the age of 18 too. Another claim given is that lowering the minimum legal drinking to 18 years-old will simultaneously lower the number of cases of minors in possession of alcohol, especially in college and universities (Griggs). This is beneficial because a dramatic number of college students have been charged with underage drinking charges, when this problem can be easily resolved by lowering the minimum legal drinking age. Some claim that individuals should not be given tickets for underage drinking as long as they are keeping under control. Obviously if an individual is causing a scene they should be given a ticket, but it is known that underage drinking occurs very frequently and giving someone a ticket will most likely not change their opinion on underage drinking or their actions towards underage drinking. However, giving tickets to underage drinkers is a great way for those to learn a valuable lesson in life that illegal activities will lead to negative consequences. 

Other ideas supporting the lowering of the minimum legal drinking age include health risks, behavior, and traffic accidents. Supporters of this claim do not believe that the minimum legal drinking age at 21 years-old effectively ensures a healthier lifestyle, more positive behaviors, and less traffic accidents. In fact, science proves that brain development is complete at the age of 18, and that alcohol consumption at this period in an individual's life would not interfere with their overall brain development (Griggs). Also, alcohol consumption does not have a different effect on people and negative behaviors can result whether an individual is 18 years-old or 21 years-old. However, some scientists claim that the brain is not fully developed at the age of 18 and that alcohol will cause damage to the brain at this age. Lastly, traffic accidents and fatalities are a huge concern. In support of lowering of the minimum legal drinking age, traffic fatality rates would not dramatically increase because other countries whose minimum legal drinking age is 18 years-old do not have an major issues (Griggs). However, it has been proven that there was an increase in traffic fatality rates when the minimum legal drinking age was 18.

The final idea supporting the counter-argument is that 18 years-old being the minimum legal drinking age would ultimately make kids safer and wiser. A documentary believes that the minimum legal drinking age being 21 years-old has not stopped underage drinking, and has even resulted in extreme drinking ("Drinking"). Another convincing point to their argument is the fact that college student would be more willing to help a friend in danger of alcohol consumption if the minimum legal drinking age was 18 years-old ("Drinking"). Although a college student may be more willing to help, college students would not decrease binge drinking even if it was legal for them to drink. Drinking in college is thought of as a game and most people are drinking to get drunk, which is certainly not wise.

In conclusion, the minimum legal drinking should not be lowered nor raised, and remain at the age of 21 years-old in the United States. Overall, there would be too many consequences with lowering or raising the minimum legal drinking age. For instance, there would be an increase in traffic fatalities, unintended pregnancies, health risks, and poor behaviors. Although changing the minimum legal drinking age could potentially be beneficial, the negative consequences out way these aspects. It is crucial to recognize that alcohol is a drug and can result in serious addictive behaviors. The consumption of alcohol is no joke and those who chose to consume alcohol should respect it and drink in moderation. Alcohol has been found to be healthy in moderation, but binge and heavy drinking certainly is not healthy. For the benefit of our society and the United States, the minimum legal drinking age should no longer be of controversy or question, and remain at the age of 21 years-old. 

