Carpe Vinum!

Drinking age 21???

It is quite a big issue nowadays, especially among young people whether it should be legal or not to drink alcohol before the age of 21.

The fact is, the United States must be probably the only nation in Western civilization where people have to be at least 21 years old in order to drink a beer legally. I say legally, because it is not a big secret the fact that almost everybody in this country has actually drunk beer and many other alcoholic beverages before even the age of 18.

When US government decided to rise the legal drinking age up to 21 was in order to prevent youngsters from using alcohol irresponsibly and to avoid car accidents. Yet, results have been rather disappointing so far, and statistics show that car accidents rate for driving under the effects of alcohol has barely decreased.

Most experts share the opinion that the majority of teenagers, while drinking alcohol without their parents’ permission, experiment the feeling of being naughty and outlawed and that’s a feeling most teenagers like because it is at their age when they seek to enforce their personality and their own decisions.

Above all this, lies another fact, which is that in this country, you can get your driving license when you are only 16 (which is awesome); when you become 18, you are then allowed to get married, have children, gamble, buy guns, vote a new government and you can even fight and die for your country but still, you are not allowed to drink a harmless beer with only 4% alcohol.

This is quite a paradoxical situation, since buying guns or fighting for your country requires much more responsibility than drinking alcohol.

I think it would be much more logical and positive if, instead of just banning the consumption of alcohol until the age of 21, we lowered that age down to 18 and from then on we taught in High Schools some lessons about how to drink and enjoy alcoholic beverages responsibly. I am positive that if teenagers had a better knowledge about alcohol and its effects, they would not probably abuse so much and many lives would be saved.

By: Jose F. Coloma

It is quite a big issue nowadays, especially among young people whether it should be legal or not to drink alcohol before the age of 21.

The fact is, the United States must be probably the only nation in Western civilization where people have to be at least 21 years old in order to drink a beer legally. I say legally, because it is not a big secret the fact that almost everybody in this country has actually drunk beer and many other alcoholic beverages before even the age of 18.

When US government decided to rise the legal drinking age up to 21 was in order to prevent youngsters from using alcohol irresponsibly and to avoid car accidents. Yet, results have been rather disappointing so far, and statistics show that car accidents rate for driving under the effects of alcohol has barely decreased.

Most experts share the opinion that the majority of teenagers, while drinking alcohol without their parents’ permission, experiment the feeling of being naughty and outlawed and that’s a feeling most teenagers like because it is at their age when they seek to enforce their personality and their own decisions.

Above all this, lies another fact, which is that in this country, you can get your driving license when you are only 16 (which is awesome); when you become 18, you are then allowed to get married, have children, gamble, buy guns, vote a new government and you can even fight and die for your country but still, you are not allowed to drink a harmless beer with only 4% alcohol.

This is quite a paradoxical situation, since buying guns or fighting for your country requires much more responsibility than drinking alcohol.

I think it would be much more logical and positive if, instead of just banning the consumption of alcohol until the age of 21, we lowered that age down to 18 and from then on we taught in High Schools some lessons about how to drink and enjoy alcoholic beverages responsibly. I am positive that if teenagers had a better knowledge about alcohol and its effects, they would not probably abuse so much and many lives would be saved.

by José F. Coloma