Consumption 

Discuss the Legal Age For Alcohol Consumption and Whether it Should Be Raised

Introduction

The legal drinking age varies significantly around the world. It varies from 16 in Austria, Germany and Italy to 21 in the United States, Indonesia and Pakistan. The majority of the world’s states, though, including Australia, Israel, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, have set the drinking age at 18 (Hanson, 2015). To answer the question of whether the drinking age should be raised in our country, it is useful to look at the experiences of the countries with the highest legal drinking age, one of which is the USA.

The Debate Over the Legal Drinking Age in the U.S.

The United States of America has had a long-lasting public discussion of whether the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 (the way it used to be, at the time of the Vietnam War). In fact, today, 30 US states allow children under 21 to consume alcohol under the supervision of their parents in the privacy of their own homes. There are champions on both sides: those who support 21 as the most appropriate time to begin alcohol consumption, and those who claim that 18 is a more favorable legal age for developing responsible drinking models among adolescents.

The Impact of the Legal Drinking Age on Alcohol-Related Issues

The idea of raising the legal drinking age to 21 in the USA was first connected with driving accident statistics. It is claimed that “the higher drinking age is responsible for a decline in annual alcohol-related deaths, from 26,173 in 1982 to 16,885 in 2005” (Daniloff, 2010). Besides drunk driving, underage drinking results in problems such as binge drinking in college, alcohol-related sexual assault and date rape, health problems, impaired judgment, and even suicide attempts. The NIAAA information sheet on college drinking states that “more than 150,000 students develop an alcohol-related health problem and between 1.2 and 1.5 percent of students indicate that they tried to commit suicide within the past year due to drinking or drug use” (NIAAA, 2015). There is also the danger that by lowering the drinking age, these problems might trickle down to a younger, more sensitive age group, as the 18-year-olds who study in high school would be able to share alcohol with their younger peers.

Promoting Responsible Drinking and Parental Supervision

The advocates of the ‘responsible drinking’ pattern believe that the dangers of alcohol abuse by minors in the case of the legal drinking age going back down to 18 are highly overestimated. They fairly ask why a young adult who can vote, serve on juries and go to the army should not be allowed to drink alcohol. At the same time, granting permission to consume alcohol at a younger age enables parents to supervise the whole process and introduce the principles of responsible drinking to their children. It has been noticed, for example, that at McGill University in Canada, where the legal drinking age is 18, there is no such problem as binge drinking (Daniloff, 2010). Students drink moderately and often intermingle with members of the faculty or other adults who are able to interfere with the process of alcohol consumption. In countries such as Italy and Greece, where the tradition of moderate wine consumption is strong, most adults never face the problem of alcohol addiction.

Conclusion 

In my opinion, the raising of the legal age for alcohol consumption is very likely to turn counterproductive. In the US states where drinking alcohol is prohibited in any form under the age of 21, adolescents have their first drinking experiences among their peers, separated from parents and/or other caring adults. This results in more intoxication-related problems, including alcohol-caused accidents and violence than there might have been under adult supervision. Moreover, if 18-year-olds are considered mature enough to die in a battle for their country, why shouldn’t they be allowed to consume alcohol? I am convinced that the age of 18 should remain a clear line between childhood and adulthood, when rights and responsibilities all come at the same time.

References

Hanson D.J. (2015). Minimum Legal Drinking Age Around The World. Retrieved from http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/LegalDrinkingAge.html#.VSBMrvmsXp4

Daniloff C. (2010). Drinking: 18 vs 21. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/today/2010/drinking-18-vs-21/ 

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2015). College Drinking. Retrieved from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/college-drinking