Prior to 1984, the drinking age in most of the states in the United States was 18. In that fateful year, however, the U.S. government decided to raise the national legal drinking age to 21 in an attempt to reduce alcohol related accidents and fatalities, primarily those related to motor vehicles and driving under the influence. This decision, however, has merely lead to minors drinking behind closed doors and placing themselves in more dangerous situations. Therefore this law should be overturned and the legal drinking age should once again be lowered to 18.
It is a well known fact that when most students reach college they bask in all of the freedom that comes along with moving away from home and parental supervision. It is also a time when students like to experiment with new things and situations such as consuming alcohol. The thrill of doing something that is prohibited tends to lead many young adults to exaggerate consumption and go on drinking binges. These binges are extremely detrimental to one's health as it could lead to many poor decisions and health issues including liver damage. In extreme cases, students my pass out from consuming too much alcohol and may end up in the hospital - or worse. If the drinking age were lowered, students might not feel such a need to binge as soon as they arrive at college. The thrill and excitement of doing something that is illegal would disappear and much of the temptation to drink, or at least drink heavily, would disappear along with it. Young adults might learn to drink modestly and safely without exaggeration and avoiding placing themselves in such dangerous situations.
Although it is illegal, many young adults under the age of 21 consume alcohol, especially when put in situations such as attending a college party that might facilitate it. This places many police officers on lookout for minors with some form of alcohol in their hands rather than on lookout for more important situations such as over consumption of alcohol or driving under the influence. If the drinking age were lowered, police officers would be less preoccupied with trying to bust people for underage drinking and more preoccupied with making sure that those who are drinking are doing so in a safe manner. This could result in greater prevention of dangers created by alcohol. Furthermore, those who drink while underage are much less likely to report any problems caused by the consumption of alcoholic beverages including alcohol poisoning, for fear of getting punished. There have been many cases of fatalities from alcohol that could have been avoided if someone had reported the problem immediately and the victim had gone to the hospital in time. If the drinking age were lower, young adults would be much more likely to report any problems, and perhaps tragedies such as death caused by an over consumption of alcohol could be prevented.
Overall, many of the issues that result from drinking alcohol could be prevented if only the legal drinking age were lowered to 18 once more. Many of the reasons the law was originally changed do not seem to make a difference. Rather than preventing younger adults from drinking, the law has merely forced the drinking to be hidden, resulting in more dangerous situations. Safer drinking practices would likely be employed if the thrill of doing something illegal were eliminated. Lowering the drinking age to 18 once again would likely not cause more problems, but rather many of the dangers and tragedies that occur as a result of alcohol consumption could be prevented.