Legal Drinking Age

When I was young, I thought alcohol was a very good friend, because it was always together with me, and it always heard my stories; I loved that so much. However, my love with it didn’t last a long time. I had been making many problems with it, until I found out that it isn’t only my good friend, but also a bad apple. It doesn’t like to lose, and it reveals its true character if I am absent-minded.

I agree with the legal drinking age being 21. Alcohol causes many troubles, such as assaults and traffic accidents, and it is easier to happen to teenagers because they often lose self-control.

First of all, when drinking happens, violence happens. It is a very serious problem. Actually, it isn’t only underage people’s situation, but it occurs with underage people more than overage people. More than 500,000 college students have become victims of assaults by drunken students a year, according to the Center for College Health and Safety (Angelo, 2008). Alcohol abuse can make people violent, and minors are easier to change, because they are more sensitive and susceptible. It must be dangerous.

Secondly, It’s fatal to drive with alcohol. They can drive from when they are 16 years old in the U.S. About 1,900 minors die from traffic accidents with alcohol every year, and it’s one of the biggest reasons for minors’ deaths (Federal Trade Commission, n.d.). Young people are very confident, and it causes accidents when they drink. Unfortunately, alcohol affects their driving skill even though they are confident.

Opponents of keeping the legal drinking 21 say that it is easy for them to get alcohol and drink even though it’s illegal. However, this argument doesn’t become a reason for changing the legal age. I also drank when I was a teenager, and adults tried to control. How about them? They might have drunk when they were young. And I will stop minors from drinking. It’s very common. I am here because of those adults. It’s necessary, even though they still drink. To control minors is very important.

In conclusion, it is dangerous that minors drink. Alcohol is not bad; it depends on the person who drinks. We should prepare or develop a mind for drinking before drinking. We need to just enjoy it. Underage people can’t control alcohol, and it is easy for them to lose self control. It’s dangerous to themselves and others.

Angelo, J. (2004, June). The wasted years: college presidents say that changing the culture of drinking on campus has been their gravest challenge: Whether they are up to the task is another question altogether. Bnet. Retrieved Feb. 1, 2008, from http://www.findarticle.com/p/articles/mi_m0LSH/is_6_7/ai_n6054435/

Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Dangers of teen drinking. We don’t serve teens. Retrieved Feb. 6, 2008, from http://www.dontserveteens.gov/dangers/