The Legal Drinking Age

Introduction

My 52 year old Aunt was visiting at Christmas and I asked her how she had celebrated her high school graduation. The question was posed half seriously, as I fully expected a long, carefully edited answer that involved no acts of teenage rebellion.

Without hesitation she responded, “I went to a bar with my boyfriend. We drank a few beers, danced, and talked with our friends.”

My first thought was that she had mistaken my question and described her college graduation night celebration. Smiling at my shocked expression and obvious confusion, she explained that at the time she graduated high school in 1975 she was 18 years old. During the 1970s, the state of Illinois had experimented with lowering the legal drinking age for beer and wine to 18. Everything she did that evening was lawful and parentally permissible. The experiment was later deemed a failure, and within a few years the legal drinking age was returned to its former limit of 21. However, she enjoyed the lower limit of 18 during a brief part of high school, and her entire college career. Her statements were interesting, and I began to consider what age limits, if any, should be placed on alcohol consumption.

While many people may argue, including my 52 year old Aunt, that the United States’ legal drinking age should be lowered from 21, the law is in place for a reason. This can be seen through the indication that alcohol not only has effects on brain development, but also on the behavior of those who consume it. Even though there are pros and cons to increasing or decreasing the legal drinking age, we will come to find that the pros of the current age far outweigh those of lowering it. Therefore, I advocate that the legal drinking age should be 21. One may ask, “Why? If one can fight a war shouldn’t you be able to have a beer?” Even though this statement is one of many that people may pose in