by Carrington M. Nye

Created on: August 26, 2008

It is with great difficulty that I have come to the conclusion that I have regarding the legal drinking age in the United States and all that said drinking age implies.
One of the greatest debates surrounding the legal drinking age in recent times has been whether or not binge drinking among college students (sometimes resulting in death) would be significantly cut down along with the drinking age.

My opinion (and that all that it truly is) on this topic is a resounding No.

The reasons that I have arrived at this conclusion are multiple, but I will start with the simplest reasoning of all; upon tasting freedom for the first time in their adult life, young people have the great urge and need to test their limits, to explore the "adult" world at full-throttle, and to do so as most young adults do, with little thought to their own humanity. Young people very often have no realization as to their own mortality; oftentimes they feel invincible and even immortal.

Lowering the drinking age back down to eighteen years of age will not change this at all, but would ultimately lead us back down the destructive road that we tested in years past with horrific results; death by the thousands in the short amount of time that the drinking age was lowered. Statistically speaking, the states that chose this course of action during the Vietnam War era saw devastating results to their decisions: The National Highway Safety Commission said that by raising the drinking age an estimated 20,000 lives were saved between 1975 and 1983, a thirteen percent reduction in alcohol-related automobile fatalities.

These statistics cannot be debated, they are fact. Another fact was that states that bordered those that voted to lower their own drinking age saw their own youngster's fatalities rise at an alarming rate due to crossing over state lines to "have a good time."

"100 College Professors Cannot be Wrong". Today, we have about 100 college professors fighting for the lowering of the drinking age back down to age eighteen; and if you were like me that would mean that you could enjoy spirits as a high school senior! Yikes! Can you imagine going into your SAT's with a whopping hang-over? Me either.

The professors are up to their eyeballs with what many consider to be a binge-drinking disaster. In recent years it would seem that college students have truly gotten out of control compared to those in years past and that binge-drinking has sky-rocketed because of this. Perhaps lowering the drinking age

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