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Should the drinking age be 18? Should the drinking age be 18?
Yes, the drinking age should be 18. Yes, the drinking age should be 18.
No, the drinking age should be 21. No, the drinking age should be 21.
The ideal drinking age depends on the jurisdiction. The ideal drinking age depends on the jurisdiction.
There should be no drinking age. There should be no drinking age.
Adults should have the right to decide to drink Adults should have the right to decide to drink
18 is the safest minimum age for drinking 18 is the safest minimum age for drinking
A minimum age of 18 normalizes responsible drinking A minimum age of 18 normalizes responsible drinking
Drinking alcohol is medically risky Drinking alcohol is medically risky
Younger people are too immature to drink Younger people are too immature to drink
A higher drinking age reduces drunk driving A higher drinking age reduces drunk driving
Cultural and religious beliefs vary widely about drinking Cultural and religious beliefs vary widely about drinking
Historically, there were no drinking age laws Historically, there were no drinking age laws
Young people drink regardless of the drinking age Young people drink regardless of the drinking age
Underage drinking is not a priority for law enforcement Underage drinking is not a priority for law enforcement
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Should the drinking age be 18?
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There should be no drinking age.

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Young people drink regardless of the drinking age

A significant percentage of the population engages in underage drinking no matter how low or high the drinking age is.
Omar Qureshi Cynthia Gellner National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
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The Argument

The minimum legal drinking age is irrelevant in practice. Statistics from the United States, which has a relatively high national drinking age of 21, indicate that the U.S. national drinking age law has done little to stop underage drinking, even among teens younger than 18. Approximately one half of American teens aged 16 or 17 drink alcohol, and almost a quarter aged 14 or 15 do so as well. Access to alcohol through illegal means such as false identification, theft, and the assistance of complicit adults is simply too easy for the drinking age to function as a preventative law.

Counter arguments

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Underage drinking continues, regardless of the drinking age. [P2] Functionally useless, drinking ages should be abolished.

Rejecting the premises

References

This page was last edited on Friday, 7 Feb 2020 at 18:14 UTC

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