Why should the minimum legal drinking age be lowered?There are many obvious reasons for my choice of lowering the MLDA to eighteen such as, eighteen is the legal age to smoke cigarettes, enlist in the military, enter into the sanctity of marriage etc. but many other countries with an eighteen-year-old drinking age limit have much lower DUI rates (United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, etc.). Taking away the thrill of indulging in alcohol underage similar to nearly every other country, some of which have no MLDA (Morocco, Norway, Uruguay), would prevent more people from drinking and take away the “cool” factor. “The 21 Minimum Drinking Age Act was signed by President Ronald Reagan on July 17, 1984. Before this federal law was passed, states were able to have different drinking ages which led to calling state lines “blood borders” because teens would often go to another state to drink and then drive home under the influence” (Washington Accident Books). However, in the 1980’s there were not any DUI checkpoints. Since there are such strict laws enforcing drunk driving currently in the United States, people are extremely hesitant to drink and drive, especially teens below the drinking age limit because they could obtain more charges apart from the DUI for being in possession of alcohol and/or consuming alcohol. If adolescents under the age of twenty-one had establishments at their disposal where they could go to drink that would restrict them from driving and overindulging in alcohol then everyone attending would be safe. If the amount of drinking is controlled and moderated by a parent/adult or even responsible friends then there should be no problem allowing people eighteen and older to consume alcohol because there are no risks.
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