AOW #1

In response to Is Lowering the Drinking Age a good idea?

           The article I read was Is Lowering the Drinking Age a Good Idea? Jessica Pauline Ogilvie of Los Angeles Times. The article describes two points of view upon lowering the drinking age; one in favor and one against. Dr. David J. Hanson argues in favor of lowering the drinking age stating points such as that although there may be less drinkers that they tend to drink more and in uncontrolled places; the kind of scenario that can cause alcohol poisoning. He also says that having the drinking age at 21 is just transferring teen drinking related deaths to 21, 22 and 23 year olds, that in Europe where the drinking age is younger it hasn’t caused any problems and finally that if the drinking age were to be lowered for there to be a special alcohol education course first. On the other hand, Dr. James C. Fell argues that high school drinking is steadily going down and that for seniors, even 18 year olds is at an all-time low. That through history, the U.S has had youth alcohol consumption lower when the drinking age laws have been applied. Finally that not letting youth drink leads to 800 less alcohol related road deaths each year in the U.S and that binge drinking in countries with lower limits is much more common.
In terms of my opinion, I would tend to side a bit more with Dr. James C. Feel and his argument that the drinking age should be kept where it is. In Europe, a culture very similar to that of the U.S, alcohol in teens has become a growing problem. Also 33% of the teens who bought their own alcohol were six times more likely to overindulge in drinking .As you can see, things are worse in Europe in regards to binge drinking and overindulging. Finally, in Europe, starting at age 15, one in every 4 deaths are alcohol related which is worse than in the U.S.
Also, in regards to the drunk driver deaths , that is an area where things have improved. 800 people per year is a lot and it is not only saving lives of the drunk drivers but also of the other sober drivers on the road. It is completely out of their hands whether they put themselves at risk to allow teens to drink where at least even if under pressure to drink and drive, the teen had a bit of choice. So in that regard I also side with the older drinking age.
And although underage drinking hasn’t been decreasing in huge increments, it is in my opinion pretty good that it is dropping at all. This is because with modern culture, it may be more tempting to drink while underage than it was earlier.
Finally, I am a teenager so what I think would help is a good thing to go off of. I think that one big thing that should happen is that alcohol educate should be taught even with the age 21 drinking age, many teens don’t know everything bad about alcohol don’t really understand why they shouldn’t drink would be more compelled to drink because they may not know the consequences. I, have been taught about the harm drinking can cause so I feel the 21 drinking age should be respected and I think if given the education, others would to. Also, I think that it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to lower the drinking age to 20. I feel that by then the teens would have gotten used to “adult life” and feel a bit more responsible. Also, 20, at least to me feels quite a bit closer than 21 so maybe if the drinking age would feel a bit closer, so underage people may feel less compelled to try drinking at age 19 for example. Dr.James said it himself that there was less success with 20 year olds so maybe this is a possible change.
Overall, I support the argument that the drinking age should not be lowered to 18, especially not with this modern culture. Europe has had many binge drinking problems, more than the U.S so I doubt that would go down much. I did no however see to much compelling evidence towards not lowering the drinking age to age 20 and in some ways I believe that may help. In conclusion, the current strategy to stop underage drinking may not be the perfect solution but I know for sure that lowering it to age 18 is not.