Should the national drinking age be lowered to 18?

by P. M. Montgomery

Created on: July 04, 2009

There are so many reason why the national drinking age should not be lowered to 18, but this article will only touch on a few of them. Every year, around prom time, we lose hundreds of promising young adults due to drinking and driving. From big cities to small farming communities parents are left grieving because someone was not smart enough to stop the young man or woman who had been drinking from getting behind the wheel of the car and driving. They usually are not alone and when they have that inevitable accident, unfortunately, they may kill some of their friends, too. I can't even imagine the numbers that would increase if the drinking age were lowered to 18.

Then you don't even count the kids that aren't killed in these accidents, but are only horribly hurt and are left maimed and needing expensive health care for months or even years after the accident. They often suffer from what is called survivors guilt. What does that do to a person's psyche in the long run? Knowing, especially if you were the cause of the accident, that you killed some of your friends. It must be a horrible burden to bear.

That brings us to the increase in the cost to the health care system. Not only in the care of the wounded in car accidents, but also in the long term care of people who will have diseases related to alcoholism. While you may think, "What is the big deal about waiting three years to drink?" In those three years, the brain still does a lot of "growing up" cognitively. Alcoholics are born, it's true, but if a person is given that extra time to grow up and doesn't start drinking until they are 21, perhaps they won't take that first drink, or if they do, perhaps they will realize they have a problem and seek help long before a more immature teenager ever would.

The increase in cost is also to our already overworked overcrowded legal system as well. The person that was driving, if he or she survives, is usually charged with the crime, taken to court, a trial ensues, and if convicted, then, if lives were lost, most likely spends some time in prison. We, as taxpayers get to foot the bill for their housing for the next few years for that, too. And I for one, cannot help but feel so bad for that child who must pay for what they did while under the influence of alcohol. Yes, they need to be held accountable, but think back to when you were 18, how terrified they must be when they walk through those prison doors for the first time. And their parents....the heartbreak the parents go through. The ones who lost a child and the ones who are losing a child to the system for a few years.

No one will win except for the people who sell the liquor and beer if the drinking age is raised to 21. Too many will lose!

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