The Drawbacks Of Decreasing Legal Drinking Age

The US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health states that, “The Longitudinal neuroimaging studies demonstrate that the adolescent brain continues to mature well into the 20s,” so what makes an 18-year-old an adult? The US legal drinking age should be 21 or older, not 18; lowering the drinking age would increase the amount of automobile crashes, and health issues such as brain damage and addiction. Lowering the drinking age, especially in today’s society would be damaging to young adults’ development, and according to Anne T. McCartt Ph.D, the Senior Vice President for Research with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, it will also increase the number of deadly highway crashes among young people. Maintaining the current drinking age of 21 will limit the destructive impact alcohol could have on developing brains and bodies.

Decreasing the age limit for consuming alcoholic beverages will make alcohol more readily available to younger age groups which can be harmful to brain development, lead to binge drinking, alcoholism and even death. The prefrontal cortex, cerebellum, and reward systems in the brain could take 25 years or more to reach full development. The prefrontal cortex works in a fashion to create responses to situations that reflect both present and future circumstances; it is your decision-making centre, the older you get the more it fully develops. So it comes to no surprise that alcohol greatly impacts the function of this part of your brain. In acute alcohol use, people were seen to have difficulty in spatial recognition tasks and planning tasks while inebriated; it has also been shown to cause poorer decision making. This could be very dangerous amongst teens and young adults as according to researchers, their brains aren’t even fully matured enough to do these tasks while sober. Chronic alcohol use has been observed to have a correlation to deficits in functions of the prefrontal cortex. Researchers of the NCBI observed that alcoholics had different brain patterns in the PFC than those of a non-alcoholic, suggesting chronic alcohol use could alter the way that the brain performs tasks. The current chairman at the department of molecular genetics, Joseph Goldstein, found that chronic alcohol usage is more detrimental to functional tasks than cocaine. Lowering the drinking age to 18 will likely cause young adults to want to purchase alcohol so they could “embrace their adulthood.” One study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism revealed that only 9% of drinkers who waited until they were 21 to drink developed a dependency, whereas about half the people who began drinking at around age 15 and younger developed a dependency at one point in their life. While we are discussing the legal drinking age of 18, not 15, it is likely that lowering the drinking age will more readily enable people younger than 18 with the ability to drink as well. The NIAAA also found that youth may drink less often than adults, however they drink more at one time, statistically they consume over 90% of their alcohol through binge drinking. Therefore, binge drinking is common amongst young people. Binge drinking is dangerous as it can lead to alcohol poisoning, addiction and death. Henry Wechsler, PhD, a researcher with a long-term commitment to studying alcohol and drug abuse among young people to limit future high risk behaviour, and Toben F. Nelson, ScD, a researcher of health behaviour during developmental transitions, concluded that the third leading cause of death in the US for youths and young adults is alcohol consumption; accounting for an estimated amount of at least 75,000 deaths per year. A documentary taking place in Menomonie, WI, a popular college drinking town, also revealed from a young adult’s perspective the dangers of alcohol intake, “ when you have to hide something that’s when you get your problems, that’s when you get your troubles… that’s when you get your friend who’s drank too much and needs to go to the hospital but they’re underage so you don’t want to do anything about it.” With a decreased drinking age, alcohol would be more conveniently available to younger teenagers as well, legally or illegally, and there will inevitably be an increase in their intake of alcohol.

Decreasing the nation’s drinking age will also increase the rates of reckless driving, driving under the influence, and deadly highway crashes among young people. When we established a minimum legal drinking age of 21 in our country we accomplished a few things. The initial incentive for raising the drinking age was to reduce traffic crashes. However, implementing these laws reduced youth drinking directly, and encouraged youth to keep their drinking separate from their driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that, “MLDA 21 laws reduced youth drinking by reducing alcohol availability and by establishing the threat of punishment for alcohol use,” however neither works well in practice; young people can still easily obtain alcohol, and underage drinkers are able to fly under the radar unnoticed very frequently. The threat of a penalty for alcoholic intake of a person under 21 has decreased youth driving after drinking. Because a young person’s brain is not fully matured they are more likely to make decisions based on consequences, rather than what is beneficial to them in that situation; that is why the MLDA of 21 was partially successful. For example, a teen will likely choose to not drink based on the fear of going to jail or the fear of ending up in the hospital, not because they know it is bad for them and their health. According to Henry Wechsler, PhD and Toben F. Nelson, after reviewing 79 scholarly studies that discussed the relationship between the minimum drinking age and motor vehicle accidents, they concluded that 58% of the studies found fewer car crashes associated with a higher minimum drinking age, and 0% of the studies indicated that there were less accidents associated with a lower minimum drinking age. According to teen car accident statistics from the Center for Disease Control, 2650 teens between 16 and 19 were killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2011, with another 292,000 receiving emergency room treatment due to crash injuries. Due to the lack of development of a young adult’s brain, they sometimes lack the decision making skills to avoid putting themselves behind a steering wheel while inebriated, leading to thousands of deaths and injuries in teens annually. A lower drinking age would only increase these statistics as it would make alcohol available to more young people.

Many people argue for the legality of letting 18 year olds consume alcoholic beverages, including Gabrielle Glaser, an author who has extensively written about addiction and mental health. She argues, “American 18-year-olds have the right to vote, marry, buy guns and join the military. They’re astute enough to defend their country, decide elected officials and serve on a jury — but not regulate their own appetites?” While one might believe they should receive all the responsibly of being an adult when they turn 18, their brain is not yet physically developed enough to consume alcohol safely. An 18-year-old is able to vote, marry, buy guns and join the military because these things don’t have a direct impact on one’s immediate health; these things won’t halt brain development or raise health concerns for things such as addiction. Melissa M. Silveri’s research indicates that the earlier a person starts drinking, the more likely that person will develop serious problems with alcohol or a drug addiction later in life. Lowering the legal drinking age would be enabling younger adults, who are more vulnerable, with habits that could be harmful, habit-forming, and even fatal.

A minimum legal drinking age of 18, especially in today’s society would be harmful to young adults’ development, wellbeing, and put them more at risk for motor vehicle accidents. Maintaining the current minimum legal drinking age will limit the affects of destruction alcohol could have on developing bodies. Lowering the drinking age will be harmful to young adults’ brain development, create binge drinkers and future alcoholics, and increase the amount of motor vehicle accidents due to alcohol consumption. Although it seems fair to award 18-year-olds with all the responsibilities of becoming an adult including the ability to drink legally, one’s health should be put first and foremost. So I ask you, what exactly makes an 18-year-old an adult?