Photo courtesy of CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
The day someone turns 21 is supposed to be a marvelous one, celebrated by downing beverages that one wouldn’t ordinarily be able to drink until they come of age. Despite being a legal tax-paying citizen for three years beforehand, the age at which one can start drinking is a rite of passage for all Americans. College students plan out wild parties to celebrate the occasion, but why 21? Supposedly because brain development tops out then, according to the Addiction Resource Council. Yet I find it odd that I can get drafted into the military to fight wars for this country and fund its economy with my taxpayer dollars all before I can crack open a cold one.
The minimum legal drinking age is, in fact, 21, but millions of Americans begin drinking before then. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “5.9 million youth ages 12 to 20 reported drinking alcohol beyond ‘just a few sips’ in the past month” in their 2021 study. So regardless of whether they are underage or not, Americans will still find a way to get their hands on booze. Whether that means through a parent or guardian or on their own, kids will find a way to get it. A study done by Mothers Against Drunk Driving found that “a third of parents allow youth access to alcohol according to both teen and parent responses. Of the parents surveyed, one in five (21%) say they allow alcohol consumption from time to time, while a smaller amount (9%) allow it fairly often.”
Parents might harp on others that allow their children access to alcohol, however, if underage drinkers are going to get alcohol regardless, wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be safe? Even with the nation’s past of banning alcohol during prohibition, Americans still found a way to obtain it. Speakeasies ran rampant as bootleggers moved their own products. Historically speaking, the regulation of alcohol by the government has never gone smoothly.
Also, Americans who are below the drinking age are a huge part of the workforce and the economy. They can vote, they can be plucked from their homes and drafted into war, and they are taxpayers. Logically, with all these responsibilities, it’d make sense for them to have the right to drink legally. They can fight for their country, but they can’t consume liquor. Make that make sense. They can elect the leader of the free world, supposedly the “greatest country on earth,” but they cannot drink legally. That’s absurd, and America is lacking on the policy.
The U.S. is one of the few countries left to have a legal drinking age of 21. You can purchase all forms of alcohol in the majority of European countries at 18. Germany, Belgium and Switzerland are all among the countries that allow for alcohol to start being purchased at the mere age of 16. America touts itself as the nation of the free, but the government confines one of the freedoms a majority of the world has.
All in all, the case for a lower drinking age can be made 1,000 times over. Americans under the legal drinking age still engage in the activity of alcohol consumption regardless of it being illegal. They contribute to the economy and are treated as adults under the law but aren’t given the privilege of alcohol consumption until years after “adulthood”. If one can be drafted into a war that they didn’t start but can’t crack open a cold one, something’s wrong.
