The minimum legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 for many reasons dating back to Prohibition.  During Prohibition in 1919, the possession, production and transportation of liquor was banned.  There were many problems when this ban was placed on alcohol because people would illegally drink and transport alcohol behind the backs of authorities.  Prohibition ended in complete failure, and there is now a similar problem.  In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which changed the drinking age from 18 to 21 years old.  This law made the minimum legal drinking age among the highest in the world, with the United States being 1 of 4 countries with a drinking age as high as 21(21: Is It Time to Lower the Drinking Age).  The law stated that, if a state wanted the minimum drinking age to be below 21 years old that they must forfeit 10% of highway funding (21: Is It Time to Lower the Drinking Age).  The state would have to forfeit 10% of highway funding due to the supposed risk of fatal accidents increasing from ages 18-21.  Many underage people kept drinking even though it is illegal to drink alcohol under the age of 21.  After the law was passed, many people began to debate whether the drinking age should be 18 or 21-year-old.  There are many conflicting viewpoints that have shaped the positions of the 18 and 21-year-old drinking age.  Some believe 18 year olds should be able to drink because they are matured adults with the same responsibilities as someone the age of 21. Others believe the drinking age should not be lowered because 18 year olds are irresponsible, fatal traffic accidents would increase, and alcohol can be harmful to the brain health and function of adults from the age of 18 to 21.  The drinking age should undoubtedly be lowered to the age of 18 because; you are considered a legal adult, the law would be congruent with other countries, a MLDA of 21 increases binge drinking, and underage drinking on college campuses is inevitable.       

  In the United States, anyone who is the age of 18 or over has the right to vote, marry, operate a motor vehicle, pay taxes, become a legal guardian, own a gun, and go to war.  Those who are under the age of 21 and serve our country to fight for the basic rights of all people, are denied the right to consume alcohol.  This is totally unethical, saying that an 18-year-old soldier could lose their life to protect their country, yet they cannot consume alcohol because it supposedly “risks health” and “increases driving fatalities”.  Anyone would agree that going to war is much more of a health risk than allowing 18 to 21 year olds to consume alcohol. These various rights show the responsibility that 18-year-old adults are held, while these facts outline how unfair a 21-year-old drinking age is to matured 18-year-old adults.  Most of these rights, such as going to war or marrying someone, have a much higher level of responsibility needed than drinking alcohol.  For example, someone who gets married the day they turn 18 would not legally be able to consume alcohol on their wedding day because of the 21-year-old MLDA.  The right of consuming alcohol should be congruent with the rights that are given to 18 year olds.  The drinking age should also be congruent with other surrounding countries.

The outlying problem with the 21-year-old drinking age in the United States is the incongruence that is has with neighboring countries drinking ages.  The United States has one of the highest drinking ages, along with Indonesia, Mongolia, and Laos (21: Is It Time to Lower the Drinking Age).  This has become more of a problem in recent years due to the number of foreign exchange students that come to the United States.  Since there are lower drinking ages across most of the world, foreign exchange students that come to college usually have been drinking for years, even as low as the age of 12.  Many of these students still consume alcohol because it has been in their daily life for years, and they see no problem with drinking.  A study suggests that Europeans are more responsible than Americans when it comes to consuming alcohol (Fulton).  This shows that the lower drinking age in Europe has allowed people to become more responsible when consuming alcohol because you can legally drink in a safe environment without having to sneak drinks behind authorities.  For people under 21, there is a sense of respect for alcohol in other countries due to the frequent use and legalization of 18 year olds drinking.  If the United States drinking age was congruent with surrounding countries such as Canada and Mexico, where the drinking age is 18, there would not be a problem with people from other countries having to give up their right to drink alcohol.  This would make the rights of drinking alcohol balanced for almost all 18-year-olds around the country.  

Most of society expects that college students will consume alcoholic beverages under the age of 21. In fact, thousands of underage college students drink on college campuses while very few of them are ticketed for these violations.  Mark Beckner is a police chief from Boulder, Colorado and he claims that underage drinking cannot be stopped but attempts are made to contain it (CBS News).  This shows that the MLDA 21 is not effective because the law cannot be enforced.  The police force and state are only wasting money by sending police out to catch a few underage drinkers out of thousands, when there should be more time and money spent on catching violent criminals.  There is no (perfect) solution to the underage drinking problem.  The police chief also believes that trying to stop underage drinking has only made underage students drink in a more “underground” place (CBS News).  Many of these places that students are drinking, are promoting binge drinking, which is unsafe for the health of these students.  Binge drinking is mainly happening at fraternity houses, dorm rooms, and private houses around campus that have no control on alcohol.  It is considered binge drinking when five or more drinks are consumed during a short period of time (Hingson).  Many of these students are drinking much more than five drinks while drinking at these “underground” places.  Many of these students are encourage to chug alcohol straight out of the bottle.  A story covered by CBS News showed that, a Freshman at the University of Colorado died after he was at a fraternity party and chugged an excessive amount of alcohol.  When the boy passed out, his friends were too scared to call the police because they were underage and in the possession of alcohol.  If the drinking age would have been 18, there is a much greater chance that this young man would still be alive because his friends would be legally in possession of alcohol without the risk of getting in trouble. In many of these situations underage students “pregame” or binge drink because they are not allowed to legally purchase alcohol once they are in a bar or club.  Many of the clubs that underage college students attend, allow 18 year olds and older to access the club.  The reason underage students drink so heavily before going out, is due to the purchase age of 21.  These students drink heavily before the club so they can have a good time while maintaining a heavy buzz in the club.  If the drinking age was lowered this would decrease the rate of binge drinking and allow 18 year olds to drink at a more responsible rate in a bar or club instead of irresponsibly drinking by chugging alcohol behind closed doors.  Statistics show that binge drinkers were reported in 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18% of students 21 years of age (Engs).  This confirms the fact that high binge drinking rates in underage student is due to not having legal access to alcohol in public places.   Studies have shown that since the drinking law in 1987, effects of underground binge drinking have showed up by, underage students reporting “vomiting after drinking” increased from 46% to 50% and “missing class from a hangover” increased from 26% to 28% (Engs).  This amount of binge drinking from underage students drinking behind closed doors has caused more than 1,800 students to die from alcohol related injuries each year (Wavrin). In order to make college campuses safer and reduce binge drinking, the minimum drinking age must be lowered to 18.

 Many people believe that lowering the drinking age causes bad health effects on young adults while also increasing the amount of driving fatalities from ages 18 to 21. Statistics show that when the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 over 30 years ago that the number of traffic fatalities from ages 18 to 21 decreased from 61% to 31% (McCartt).  This is a very alarming number, as long as the statistics are totally true.  The twist to these statistics is the number of driving fatalities during this time decreased between all age groups and not just 18-21 year olds. The decrease in driving fatalities for all age groups shows that some other factor contributed to these results (21: Is It Time to Lower the Drinking Age).  The reason for a decrease in driving fatalities during this time could have been from factors such as improved highway systems and safer cars.  The organization, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, believes that drinking under the age of 21 should be illegal due to an 18 year olds responsibility issues and lacking brain development (21: Is It Time to Lower the Drinking Age). People that claim 18 year olds are not responsible enough to consume alcohol contradict themselves since you can vote, get married, become a legal guardian, and go to war at the age of 18.  These responsibilities involve much more precise judgement and maturity than consuming alcohol.  There has also been statistics that were stated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, that studies have been conducted on adolescent brains that show alcohol effects the growth and development of 18 year-olds’ brains (21: Is It Time to Lower the Drinking Age).  The entirety of the research shows that the research was conducted on adolescent rats not human brains.  This research is also in the very early stages, so there haven’t been any other studies to confirm or refute the evidence (21: Is It Time to Lower the Drinking Age).  The evidence used to back up these statements has very little to do with the topic of negative effects of an 18-year-old drinking age because the statistics don’t show that a lower drinking age is the cause of more driving fatalities or that alcohol effects an adolescent human brain.  There has also been a study conducted that shows the arrest rates for violent crimes rise sharply at age 21 and last through age 23, and the scientist believe that a lower drinking age would cause this criminal activity to start earlier (Watson).  The scientists have no statistics that this would actually be the case, they only believe this is the case because the criminal activity rises sharply at age 21.  They failed to state that there is a possibility that the criminal activity rises sharply at age 21 due to maximized testosterone levels from age 21 to 23.  Since there is already a large majority of underage people drinking, if their study was accurate, there should also be a high criminal activity in 18-21 year olds that are already drinking underage.  This shows that there is little to no evidence to show that lowering the drinking age would increase criminal activity in 18 to 20 year olds.

The legal minimum drinking age in the United states must be lowered for the wellbeing of society and for the sake of college students.  The drinking age should be lowered because an 18-year-old is allowed to serve in the military, become a legal guardian, vote, own a gun, and go to war.  An 18-year-old is fully capable and responsible enough to consume alcohol just like any other adult.  There is a lack of police enforcement on the minimum drinking age because the underage drinking situation has gotten out of hand to where it can no longer be regulated or controlled.  If the drinking age was lowered, the state would no longer have to fund sting operations to catch a handful of underage drinkers.  The most important reason to lower the drinking age is to keep 18 year olds safe when consuming alcohol to reduce the risk of binge drinking around college campuses that very occasionally leads to death.  After conducting final research, the argument to lower the 21-year-old drinking has been strengthened due to the research from these various sources.  The sources show that lowering the drinking age has more positive effects than negative effects in regards to a comparison between an 18 and 21-year-old drinking age.  The best way to change this law is for the federal government to allow states to lower the drinking age to 18 without having to suffer a 10% forfeit of highway funding.  
