Should The Legal Drinking Age Be Changed from 21 to 18?

I recently read where a group of college presidents want to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 in an attempt to combat binge drinking on their campuses. The story is foxnews.com and discusses the basis for why the group wants to lower the legal age.

The FOX article states that Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) “says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes.” I went to the MADD website and saw where they had reported that “of the over 159 million alcohol-impaired driving trips estimated that Americans took in 2002, over ten percent (18 million trips) were made by 18-20 year olds.” They further reported that the frequency and amounts of teen drinking has consistently increased over the last few decades.

So since this is opinion driven, I want to state my opinion on whether eighteen year olds should be able to buy alcohol. I believe it would be a dangerous situation for our motorists and pedestrians. Many kids this age are mature enough to handle it, but I believe more are not. This would equate to giving kids access to alcohol and I find it doubtful they understand the full consequences of drinking and driving.

I would wager that should the law change, we would see an exponential increase in DUI’s for 18 – 20 year olds and in turn more dangerous accidents.

Simply, I say no to decreasing the legal age to buy alcohol.