There is an extensive amount of research that substantiates the claim that teenagers simply are not prepared, psychologically or physically, for alcohol use (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services vi). While recognizing that teens will experiment with alcohol regardless of the drinking age, lifting the current age or decreasing it would endorse experimentation, and perhaps even habitual use, at an age when teens do not have fully matured cognitive or physiological systems (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services vi). Cognitive maturity is needed for people to make thoughtful and logical decisions about matters requiring judgment and insight, while physical maturity is needed to be able to manage the physiological effects of particular substances, including alcohol.
The intake of alcohol, especially in excessive amounts, before the body’s systems have finished forming can stunt healthy development, causing lifelong deficits. At 16 or even 18 years of age, a teenager is unlikely to be able to think ahead and make decisions based on such information. For this reason, the legal drinking age is in place to help them by deterring illicit use before development has reached its conclusion (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services vi).Research outcomes regarding alcohol use among teenagers is dramatic and affirms the need for the legal drinking age to be maintained at 21. According to Loeb, Talley, and Zlatoper, the minimum legal drinking age “has a statistically significant impact on youthful fatality rates” (64), and there is evidence that suggests lowering the drinking age to 18 or 16 would have the effect of increasing fatalities caused by traffic and other types of accidents.
More recent statistics published by the Office of the Surgeon General support those earlier findings. Earlier this year, the Office of the Surgeon General reported that alcohol use among teens is responsible for at least 5,000 deaths every year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 10). As the Surgeon General pointed out, alcohol dulls anyone’s ability to make thoughtful decisions and interferes with cognitive and motor skills, but such effects are particularly acute for underage drinkers (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 10). What the Surgeon General cited as most alarming, however, are the hidden effects of alcohol use among young people, including high-risk sexual behavior that can lead to AIDS and other STDs, increased aggression, decreased interest in academic success, and the possibility of use serving as a “gateway” to other drugs and high-risk activities (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 10-11).
For all of the reasons cited here, the legal drinking age should be maintained at the current age: 21. Although it would be naïve to think that younger teenagers will not experiment with alcohol, neither our government nor we as responsible citizens can endorse earlier use of a substance that can have harmful effects if not used properly. In addition to maintaining the current legal drinking age, both the government and individuals—especially teachers, parents, and other adults who have direct contact with teens—should increase their efforts to educate adolescents about the dangers of early alcohol use. While drinking alcohol can become integrated adaptively into one’s social routines, the context and the boundaries of appropriate use must be taught. Adolescents’ cognitive and physical development must be protected. As adults, they can, and hopefully will, make thoughtful decisions about alcohol use, but younger than 21, they lack the capacity to do so.
Other essays and articles in the Arguments Archives related to this topic include: Argument in Favor of Legalizing Marijuana for Medical Use • The Need for FDA Regulation of the Dietary Supplement Industry • Gun Control & Mental Illness : Virginia Tech Case Study A Reasoned Approach to Medical Marijuana and the Law • Problems and Weaknesses in the American Educational System
Continue to Full Bibliography of Sources ►
