Many incoming freshman enter college at the age of 18. They are able to experience fun weekends and a great nightlife. Bars, football games, the dorm, or frats, there is always something in common with all of these places. That common denominator is alcohol. While they have access to all of this alcohol, they are not of legal age to drink, possess or handle it. Drinking, possession, and handling alcohol under the age of 21 are all illegal activities in the United States. However, in many other countries the legal drinking age is 18. At 18, they are able to go to the bar and have a drink and walk down the street with an open can. While it is understandable that there are many harmful side affects of alcohol if you drink too much, why is it allowed in some countries but not others? Should the legal age be changed from 21 years old to 18 in the United States?

The reason why I chose this particular topic is because it became very relevant in my life once I took a trip this year out of the country, when I was 18 years of age, and then when my friends and I were cited here at Penn State this summer for underage drinking and possession of alcohol. While we understand that it is illegal to drink under the age of 21, we were all very responsible with our alcohol consumption.

For my final paper, I will argue the reasons why the drinking age should be changed from 21 years of age to 18 in the United States. While many would argue that this would cause more problems such as binge drinking, accidents, and DUI’s (Driving Under the Influence), I will show the positive aspects of lowering the age, and giving statistics pertaining to this country, as opposed to other countries that have lower drinking ages. It will be interesting to compare statistics within the United States to that of other countries, such as on road accidents, deaths and serious injuries from alcohol.

Why is the drinking age in the United States set at 21 years old? If people consider 18 to be a “bad” age, why is it that 21 the “perfect” age? The age of 18 should be considered a reasonable drinking age. Although the older generations, or more specifically the lawmakers, may see otherwise, 18 year olds are offered a lot of responsibility in other areas of their lives. At the age of 18, you can be drafted to fight in a war and defend your country, so why not drink? You may also get a credit card at that age, which shows financial responsibility, so why not the drinking age?

One counter-argument for this proposal is that the original age a few years ago was 18, but was recently changed to 21. In the United States, 18 was the legal drinking age until July of the year 1984, when the bill, The National Minimum Drinking Age Act, was passed to change it to 21. In my paper, I will explain the reasons for the change to make it 21 back then, and why it should be changed back to 18 now.

This topic is not just about my incident at Penn State, but to many high school seniors, incoming freshman and even sophomores who are experiencing this easy access to alcohol. It is available at campuses virtually everywhere. Although the topic of changing the drinking age to18 in the United States could hold the interest of many, I have selected to address my paper to the lawmakers and the adults who influence our lawmakers. While it seems only natural that many people in college or incoming freshman would agree that the legal drinking age should change, we all need to see and understand the benefits of this, while knowing the potential for harmful affects. The adults and lawmakers may not agree and choose to believe teenagers tend to be “irresponsible”. The purpose of my paper is to inform my targeted audience on the positive aspects of changing the legal drinking age from 21 back down to 18 years old. The final paper is a proposal to change the drinking age law. It will be a persuasion paper, where I will define many terms that go along with alcohol consumption, such as DUI’s and what is considered binge drinking, with an evaluation argument comparing the statistics of alcohol consumption in the United States with those of other countries.