Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Blog 9: Response To the Work of a Classmate




I decided to respond to Alissa's Blog which deals with the topic of the United States' current drinking age. I agree that something needs to be changed. The drinking age is currently set at 21 years of age, and should be set back to 18 years of age. Alissa states that "this MLDA 21 is not helping, it's actually hurting" the initial job of protecting the youth from alcohol's effects. The drinking age tends to have the effect of creating a feeling of rebellion for many teenagers. Some teens feel that drinking is cool because it is illegal, and that is why they take part in it. Changing the drinking age to 18 years of age would eliminate this rebellious feeling for many teen drinkers. In the end, it would most likely lower the amount of teens who actually drink.
I also agree with Alissa that the drinking age seems to generate more teens who binge drink. Since teens aren't allowed to drink, when they can drink, they consume large quantities and, many times, drink themselves until they are not functional. If the drinking age were brought back to 18yrs the binge drinking would drop off because drinking wouldn't have to be such a "private/once in a blue moon" activity.
Lastly the drinking age has an opposite effect when it comes to protecting teens for drinking and driving. It is the worst thing anyone can do, get in a car after drinking and try to drive home. Yet many teens today are doing it. Michaela Ails says, "I have witnessed many underage people drive home after a night of drinking in order to hide it from their parents. If the drinking age was lowered young adults would feel less pressure to notify their parents that they have been drinking." In the end this law was put in place for the safety of everybody, but it doesn't seem to be creating very much safety. A change in the drinking age could eliminate this problem.
With all of the drawbacks from a drinking age of 21 years, I agree with Alissa that the law needs to be changed. Bringing back the drinking age to 18 years of age would bring protection and responsibility to our teens. It could create a safer outcome.

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