I believe the legal drinking age in the United States should be changed from 21 to 18. It seems as if our society considers 18-year-olds to be adults, because they are granted important responsibilities and are held more accountable for their actions.
At this milestone age, we can marry, vote, go to war, sign binding contracts and can be tried as adults in court.
But we are not given the right to buy a drink.
Our legal minimum drinking age is one of the highest in the world, and it criminalizes millions who are socially and legally considered adults. College-aged students obtain criminal records for committing a crime that exists nowhere else in the world.
By treating alcohol as a forbidden fruit, its use has become an underground activity by those underage. Teenagers are forced to sneak alcohol, and are not overseen while they use it.
This occurrence causes bad habits such as binge drinking, because those underage are not taught how to safely consume alcohol.
As a 17-year-old high school student, I would appreciate being advised how to safely consume alcohol and learning how to look out for myself and my friends.
The underage-drinking world is one without both proper supervision and knowledge of the substance–a dangerous combination.
Just as only teaching abstinence as opposed to safe sex alternatives will most likely lead to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, only preaching the complete avoidance of alcohol until age 21 as opposed to its smart use will lead to binge drinkers who become more likely to develop alcoholism.
With more legal, supervised use of alcohol, the now underage Americans would learn to respect themselves and the use of alcohol more, and we would have fewer cases of alcohol poisoning and alcohol-related injuries.
It is time for our nation to give the responsibility back to 18-year-olds who are considered adults in the other major facets of life.
