The Legal Drinking Age: Is It Too High?

      It is well known that underage drinking is becoming more and more of a problem. Kids these days are not finding it difficult to lay their hands on alcohol. They can sneak it from their parents, ask older friends, or even order fake ID's which are not too difficult to find. Kids sneaking around getting drunk is a problem that needs to be fixed. Many agree that if the legal drinking age here in the United States was lowered from 21 to 18, that many of these kids would not find the thrill of sneaking their way to alcohol.

      The majority of underage drinkers come from college campuses. These kids are generally over the age of 18 and feel like they are doing nothing illegal. A common thought process is "If I can vote for my country, get drafted to fight for my country, get tattoos and even smoke a cigarette, than why can't I sit down and drink a beer?" This is because in 1984 President Reagan signed a bill to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21 and it has stayed this way since. The Mothers Against Destructive Decisions, also known as MADD, found a way to sway politicians into their believe. MADD was hard at work to try to reduce the amount of drunk driving deaths. Over time, they have succeeded in doing so but not only because of the raised drinking age. There have been new severe laws created to limit drunk drivers. 42 states out of 50 suspend a person from their license on their first offense. These new laws have been what's really driven down the amounts of drunk driving. With all of the intense pressure on drunk drivers these days it is very hard to imagine how drunk one has to be to still get behind the wheel.

      With that being said, there still remains the question if the drinking age should be lowered. It could severely reduce the amount of kids sneaking around and drinking, especially in college. However many think that it will make things much worse.

Questions:
What do you think the answer is and why?
Would lowering the drinking age reduce or cause more problems?
Is it plausible to think if we teach kids at younger ages (18) that they will drink more responsibly?

Sources:
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/05/07/lower-the-us-drinking-age-to-reduce-binge-drinking-and-sexual-assault

https://star.txstate.edu/node/1704