If you asked me to name one thing that almost all college students can relate to, I'd say that it's the frustration that comes along with the legal drinking age here in the United States. While most other countries allow their citizens to start legally drinking in their teens, here, the age you must be to buy or take a sip of alcohol is 21.
Though it is understandable why this law was put in place originally, might it be time to question whether it was the right choice? From safety concerns, to questions of overall effectiveness, here are a few points that one might consider when judging whether 21 as the legal drinking age is truly beneficial.
1. You can drive a car at 16, and join the military at 18, but for a beer, you have to be 21
I think its fair to say that driving a car and fighting with the military against other people with guns can be pretty darn dangerous. But apparently, it is perfectly acceptable for teenagers to do! So why then do we have to wait until we’re 21-years-old to buy a simple drink?
2. Making it illegal only makes it more tempting
Everything is more exciting when it's “forbidden.” For example, sneaking into swimming pools, staying up past your bedtime with your friends during sleepovers in 2nd grade or meeting up with the boy you have a crush on in the middle of the night. These are just a few scenarios of things that are so much more thrilling simply because you're not supposed to do them. When it comes to drinking, it's the same concept. It makes the high school kids feel cooler and makes the college kids look badass, especially when taken to the extremes through creative games and skills.
3. Most every other country has the legal age at 18-years-old (or younger)
The U.S. has a bigger problem with college party drinking scenes and binging to the point of dangerous extremes more than most other countries, and I truly think it has to do with what I mentioned in the last point. When you are at least “allowed” to start drinking at an early age, you learn earlier on how to be responsible with alcohol.
Additionally, by making it more accessible, it makes people less desperate for it. Therefore, there is less of a need to get belligerently drunk at a frat house on Friday night because that’s the only opportunity you’ll have that week to get any alcohol, so you have to enjoy its use to the max, which can be dangerous.
4. It scares people into making bad decisions
Unfortunately, too many drinking situations have turned into deadly situations. When kids see that their friend is showing signs of potential alcohol poisoning, they are too afraid that they will get in trouble for drinking illegally that they do nothing rather than bringing them to the hospital. Sadly this sort of scenario occurs quite often and results in kids dying from a fate that they did not deserve.
5. Clearly, making it illegal does nothing aways
Let’s be realistic, making it illegal doesn’t stop anyone under the age of 21. With fake ID’s, frat parties with seemingly unlimited supplies of Natty Light and house parties where Johnny got his friend’s brother’s roommate who’s 21 to buy the alcohol, minors will always find a way to drink. So is it really even worth making it illegal, or should a potentially safer alternative be made?
