Underage drinking is a problem in society today, especially with college students. Nearly 50 percent of youth have had at least one drink by eighth grade year, and nearly 20 percent have been considered drunk. Nearly 30 percent of twelfth graders admit to drinking at least three times a month and drink heavily, known as binge drinking. This is a huge problem because it is a big risk to the safety of society. Alcohol related crashes occur more to 16-20 year olds than 21 and older (“Underage Drinking: A Major Public Health Challenge”). This is important because it shows the huge percentage of adolescents that drink before they turn 21 and how early they start drinking. “College students are more likely to engage in heavy drinking than their peers who do not attend college, with 2 in 5 students nationally engaging in binge drinking on at least 1 occasion in the past 2 weeks” (Nelson and Wechsler). This quote explains that college is where most of the underage drinking occurs and is the main problem behind underage drinking. This problem relates to the age group under 21 since that is what underage drinking implies, but it affects the society as a whole. If underage drinking is not dealt with or fixed, it could get out of hand. It is a lot more of a problem today than a few decades ago and will only get worse.
The people or the adolescents doing the drinking might not see underage drinking as a problem. They do not want to admit that what they are doing is illegal and wrong. They believe that it is just part of college to drink no matter what age, which is what society creates. It is viewed okay in society to drink in college no matter what age, it is expected. People may not admit it, but they know that drinking in college will happen. This still does not make it right or not a problem. Underage drinkers cause more crashes than any other age group. It also causes problems that are not always thought about such as bad decisions, sexual activity, and even suicide. Underage drinking is a problem because it is risk to society and has many consequences.
The proposed solution is the lowering of the minimum drinking age law to 19 years of age and teaching the public more about alcohol through classes. The reason why the age is 19 and not 18 like most people would want is because this would cause too many problems in high schools. Most people do not turn 19 till after they are out of high school. If the law was 18 years, students would bring alcohol to high school which would cause them to get expelled. It would be better not to risk the problems that a minimum drinking age of 18 would bring to a high school campus and students. Changing the minimum drinking age to 21 by The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 has not helped with it, but has actually worsened it. There is no better solution than lowering the age and provided classes. Increasing the drinking age would cause more underage drinking as more people will be considered underage. This is the best solution to the first part of this proposal.
The other aspect of this proposal is the creation of classes that teach about alcohol. The main goal of this class is to give people information about alcohol and the consequences of it. People do not know enough information about alcohol safety to realize what can happen and what will happen if caution is not taken when drinking. This alcohol class would teach students everything there needs to know about alcohol: what it does to the body, brain, ability, etc. Students would be taught about the consequences of binge drinking, would be taught about motor functioning skills while drinking, and would be taught about what to do and not to do when alcohol is present. Students would need to know that if they are of age to drink at 19 and they go somewhere, they should have a designated driver along at all times. Safety would be the main topic of this class, how to be safe with alcohol. This alcohol information and safety class would be like a driver’s Ed class, it would be needed to be able to or be allowed to drink legally.
Lowering the drinking age would cause more alcohol related problems since alcohol is more accessible now is an opposition often mentioned. Adolescents see drinking as a “’forbidden fruit’, a ‘badge of rebellion against authority’ and a symbol of ‘adulthood’” and are attracted to it (Engs). The youth will always go against what they are told to do and when they are told they cannot legally drink till 21, they will want and feel the need to drink before that age. Having the drinking age set to 19 years old, it will still have the problem of underage drinking, but the age group of 19-20 will be affected greatly. This is the biggest group of underage drinkers since it usually occurs in college and alcohol will seem less enticing as before. Alcohol is nothing special a few months or weeks after turning 21, the excitement of it wears off. Another opposition to lowering the drinking age is that adolescents are not mature enough to handle and deal with alcohol. “A person's brain does not stop developing until their early to mid-20s” (Dean-Mooney). This is important because it explains that alcohol could effect and hurt the development of the brain of someone if underage drinking occurs. People are allowed to do almost anything at the age of 18, including joining the military, buying cigarettes, buying a lottery ticket, voting, etc. They should be allowed to purchase and drink alcohol. They are old enough to fight and die for this country, so they should be able to have alcohol. “A bill was recently introduced that would allow active members of the military to drink at the age of 18, with the rationale that if they're old enough to fight and die for their country, they're old enough to have a beer” (Ogilvie). This quote is important because it explains that if someone is old enough to fight and die for the country, they should be allowed to drink. A person’s brain is not developed fully at the age of 19 and they are not totally mature yet, but that is where the class comes in to help with the maturity of people. The United States is one of the few countries around the world that has a high minimum drinking age of 21 years of age. Most countries have a legal drinking age of 18, if not even lower. Many have no drinking age at all. In these other countries, alcohol is not seen as anything special like the United States. They learn to grow up with it and see alcohol just as a regular beverage. In the countries with the lower drinking age, there is no social pressure to drink. If the age was lowered in America, alcohol will be less as special as it currently is.
Another opposition is that lowering the drinking age would cause more alcohol related accidents among youth. When the minimum drinking age was set to 21, it decreased alcohol related accidents. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that setting the drinking age at 21 saves the lives of 900 young people each year and has saved more than 25,000 lives since 1975” (Nelson and Toomey). This is important because it explains that car accidents have decreased since increasing the drinking age. It explains that the higher age has saved more lives. However, safety of vehicles has greatly improved over the years to prevent injuries. Seats belts are better and stronger and air bags protect someone better. Cars are able to take an accident without causing much injury to the driver. There are also more designated drivers or other ways of getting home when drinking then there were many years ago. Lowering the drinking age would not increase accidents because the safety of the cars would be the same. The classes would also help with this by teaching people about drinking and driving and the consequences of it. An opposition to the proposed class would be that not all students finish high school and do not take all of the classes. They would miss the drinking related class or alcohol Ed. This class would be required to be able to purchase alcohol; it would be just like driver’s Ed. They need to take the class in order to have the privileges. The class would be offered to the public. An opposition to the class is that would people 21 and older need to take this class since they are already allowed to drink. Anyone 21 or older when the law is changed would be able to drink without having to take the class. They could still take the class for safety, but it would not be required. Anyone under the age of 21, even 20 would have to take this class. To be able to drink legally, they would need the credit of taking the class even if they are older than the drinking age of 19.
The implementation plan for this proposed solution would have to start with the government. They would have to dismiss or adjust The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 by either putting a new law in or changing the age from 21 to 19 years. The details of the Act would be the same such that underage youth could drink for religious purposes, for medical purposes, with the supervision of a parent/guardian, in private clubs or establishments or in lawful employment (Hanson). This quote explains that there are exceptions to the drinking law in certain circumstances. The government will need to change the law which would enact the first part of the solution. Minor things would need to be changed such as signs or anything expressing 21 as the drinking age. Driver’s licenses would need to be changed to say when the person turned 19, not 21. The DMV would make some of these changes and anyplace indicated 21 as the drinking age would need to change it to 19. This would cost companies and the government a few million dollars as a whole, but it would be back to normal after a few months as it would be just as it was when the drinking age was 21, just printing 19 instead of 21. This would only take a few months to fully integrate into the American society. Some of the barriers that would be faced are people who sell alcohol, but who do not want to sell to a lower age because they do not agree with the new law. They would have to sell to a lower age because it is the law and their opinion and opposition does not matter.
Schools and organizations will need to offer alcohol information classes. High schools will have the class be a requirement to graduate. This class would be held and taken once a week for a whole semester. This class would be just like a driver’s Ed class. There would be organizations that offer the class just like they would offer driver’s Ed for those people who have not taken it in high school. Anybody who has dropped out or is out of high school can sign up and take this class because it is required to drink. When done with the class, the student or person would get a certificate of some sort. This would be taken to the police station to be verified and a sticker or some kind of verification would be put on the person’s driver’s licenses acknowledging that they are legally allowed to drink when they are 19 years of age or older. Anybody who does not have a driver’s licenses will receive an identification card with their picture while stating that they are legally allowed to drink when 19. This is carried out by the schools that offer the class, organizations that teach alcohol classes and the police stations. The cost of this could be high by having to provide the money to offer a class for the organizations, but would not be costly for schools if they can replace another class or have a teacher teach this class, and not have someone come in and do it. The person teaching this class would need to have some background information first, either by taking an exam, testing their knowledge, or take an alcohol information teaching class. Some of the barriers that could be present would be that it might be hard to find organizations to teach the alcohol classes. The government would create a national organization that teaches alcohol information classes which also hires local organizations to teach the classes too. This would be very costly, but would be very helpful and productive.
This proposed solution is the best solution to the problem of underage drinking because it is the most effective suggested solution. This solution would decrease the need and want to drink because it will not be seen as a “forbidden fruit” as it is today. It will not be viewed as that because it will be more accessible and would not be viewed as going against the law or authority. This solution will make alcohol seem not as special as it was before because it will be available sooner and would be treated somewhat like cigarettes. The solution of lowering the drinking age and provided an alcohol information class will help reduce the number of alcohol related accidents. It would not increase because providing the class, people will know more information about alcohol and being safe with it. They will know not to drive and will know the consequences of drinking in general. This solution is realistic because the drinking age has been lower in the past to 18 years of age. It was 18 until 1984 when it was changed to what it is today, 21 years old. This solution is realistic also because the class teaching about alcohol would be just like driver’s Ed. It is the same idea, but just a different topic and different details. The solution is practical because a different version of this class is already offered. Underage drinking is a problem that needs to be addressed and fixed because it is getting out of hand and nothing is working to help fix it. Lowering the drinking age to 19 years of age and offering an alcohol information class is the best possible solution because it is the only solution that will have a benefit and be effective. The other proposed solutions are unrealistic and would never be accepted by society. It is the only solution that seems plausible. By having this solution, there is less of a risk of alcohol related accidents and people will know more information about alcohol and the consequences of it. This solution has not been realized because there is too much opposition to it and there are not enough people for it to put it in effect. The real problem behind underage drinking is that college causes drinking and it is too easy to get alcohol. Since this proposal is not put in effect, the government should have stricter consequences for underage drinking when caught. Society should be smarter when drinking and know what is right and wrong.
Works Cited
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