
As most people are aware, laws are much different in Europe, specifically the drinking age which ranges from sixteen to eighteen depending on exactly where you are.  The debate over the drinking age first became significant to me when I traveled to Europe last year as a graduation trip.  It really stuck out to me one afternoon when I was touring the streets of Ireland, the day high school students got out for summer break, and came across a group of them casually walking down the street with beers in their hands to celebrate.  I was astonished by how casual publicly drinking was to them, in fact my first reaction was, "why are they not trying to hide that?".  It was just then when I realized how different alcohol is in other countries, it is not a forbidden fruit like it is for us in America.  Where here in the United States student celebrate the last day of school by binge drinking ten beers in a house were no parents are home, in Europe the students drank one beer while walking home from school in public.  Being a college student that is under the drinking age I have seen first hand the effects of binge drinking and drinking in private, unsafe places to hide away from authorities.  I decided to do further research into the effects of lowering the drinking age in the United States because it is something I am very interested in.  I will clarify when and why the drinking law was changed and the results it has brought our country.

The drinking age was originally lowered during the 20th century around the time of World War II, Ethan Trex stated. According to Trex, "Organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving began agitating for a uniform national drinking age of 21 to help eliminate these blood borders and keep alcohol out of the hands of less-mature 18-year-olds" (Trex). President Reagan agreed with the organization and signed the aforementioned National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 on July 17th, 1984.  This act told states that they needed to make the national drinking age twenty-one or they would lose ten percent of their federal highway funding.  Obviously no state wanted to lose that much of their highway funding so they all quickly complied to change to the new drinking law.  He signed into law, the Uniform Drinking Age Act, mandating all states to adopt 21 as the legal drinking age within 5 years.  By 1988, all states had set 21 as the minimum drinking age" (MADD - History).  Many college students who had once been able to legally drink were now faced with the news that it was illegal for another year or two.  

According to the National Traffic Highway Administration this raised drinking age policy saves around 900 lives a year due to the reduced number of drunk drivers.  On top of that "Traffic Reports show a 62% decrease in alcohol fatalities among teen drivers since 1982" (Trex).  College presidents, who support reconsideration of the drinking age of 21, bring up a good point that drunk driving is a problem but there are many other potential dangers that threaten young drinkers.  "They contend that by lowering the drinking age, colleges would be able to bring booze out into the open and educate students on responsible consumption" (Trex). The college presidents point makes it clear that this is a very controversial question that even the most educated don't know the right answer to.

The main site where the issues of the National Minimum Drinking Age arose were universities.  In the past drinking was a large part of college students lives and the fact that this was now so hard to do without getting in trouble with the law led to many aggravated college age students.  One in particular, nineteen-year-old Nick Tucker, who lives completely on his own and balances college due's, bills, meals and all adult related responsibilities, brings up a good point in an article he wrote.  Tucker complains about how he is treated as an adult in everyway possible, yet he is not able to make the decision to go out and buy a beer.  According to Tucker, "people in my age group behave like children when it comes to drinking because the law treats us this way" (Tucker). Tucker could have been legal 30 years ago just like his dad, but "a bunch of politicians decided they would change human nature by changing the law" (Tucker). He believes that the reason people in his age group behave like children when it comes to drinking is because the law treats them as though they are children.

Without a fake ID a college student in this age group is forced to "pregame" which means to drink as much as possible before going out to the bars, enough for the drunk to last the entire night. It is not hard to see how potentially dangerous this activity is.  "When Friday comes around, kids spend the entire day making arrangements for how to get their 30-pack of Natural Light or, far worse, Four Loko" (Tucker).  Due to the ordeal that goes into making these arrangements it is made into much more of a big deal because it is not an everyday opportunity.  His age group is not permitted to drink in a normal way and because of that they do so in a very misbehaved manor.  "During Prohibition in the 1920s, drinking was known to cause poisonings, abuse, criminality, and degeneracy in general" (Tucker). All of these issues are the same issues we see in society today and it is due to the fact that Prohibition still applies to teens.  Tucker states that he was raised in a household where drinking in a civilized manner was introduced early, causing him to be what he believes is a responsible drinker.  He compares himself to his peers who grew up in strict households and had no idea what they were getting into when they were first introduced to alcohol and they were not as well off as him.  Tucker is a credible source for this topic due to the experience he has pertaining to under aged drinking and using a fake ID.  There may be some amount of bias due to the fact that he in the age group that can not drink legally and he will obviously push to change this.

It has been made clear that this is a very controversial subject and not everyone agrees with Tucker, especially German Lopez, who shares a very contradicting side.  The biggest reason being, the drinking age helps to save lives, which is the reason it was initially raised.  Although many people clearly disobey the drinking law, extensive research shows that it has depressed drinking and saved lives. According to the article "National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which raised the legal drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one: It found that the number of fatally injured drivers with a positive blood alcohol concentration decreased by fifty-seven percent among ages sixteen to twenty, compared with a thirty-nine percent decrease for those twenty-one to twenty-four and nine percent for those twenty-five and older" (Lopez). The critics of the drinking age claim that because of the drinking age binge drinking is more common in those under twenty-one and therefore it is more dangerous, according to the 2014 research this is not true. Since the drinking age is twenty-one, those under that age have a lot harder time getting their hands on alcohol.  The drinking age also breaks up social groups in a way that makes it harder for younger people to get their hands on alcohol. If the drinking age was still eighteen, it would make it a lot easier for high school freshman and sophomore to get their hands on alcohol. But due to the drinking age being twenty-one, it makes it a lot harder for people that young to get their hands on alcohol, it is mainly the people closer to the drinking age.

In conclusion, the Minimum Drinking Age act has differential opinions according to age. Younger people obviously want to have a lowered drinking age of eighteen. People under the drinking age argue that if they are old enough to serve and vote, why should they not be allowed to drink? People that meet the age requirement have different opinions on this issue.  Many believe that the drinking age remaining at 21 is the only way to crack down on drink drivers and keep the numbers of drunk driving related accidents low.  According to research the drinking age being twenty-one has lowered alcohol related deaths and crimes.  Is there another way to lower alcohol related deaths and crimes without such a strict law in place though?  Both age groups have a form of bias and are therefor not fitted to make the decision.  Meeting half way and coming to a compromise between both age groups would be the only ethical way to come to a conclusion.

