The legal drinking age in the United States is set at twenty-one years of age. I believe that considering twenty-one as the legal age of maturity is ridiculous. Who is to say that just because an individual is twenty-one means that they are mature enough to consume alcohol in a responsible manner? Changing the legal drinking age to eighteen should be enforced. Eighteen year-old individuals can take on many adult responsibilities, but they do not have the right to consume alcohol. Many feel this is unfair and biased. There is a tremendous controversy over whether to keep the legal drinking age at twenty-one, or to lower it to the legal age of adulthood, 18.

Congress passed the National Minimum Purchase Age Act in 1984. This law was passed to encourage each state to change their legal drinking age to twenty-one years of age. The congress believed that if they raised the minimum drinking age that it would save a significant number of lives. They figured that a twenty-one year old person was more mature than the average eighteen year-old. That, in my opinion, was a huge mistake. Just because a person lives to be twenty-one does not determine how mature they are. For exampl

e, there are many teenagers in the world that are considerably more mature than the average twenty-one year-old. The determination of legality in drinking should not be age, but rather maturity and ability to handle responsibility.

Learning how to drink in a safe and moderate manner is more important than worrying about the age of the individual. I believe that the arguments that were made as far as the number of car crashes there were after the legal drinking age was raised was merely a coincidence. People of all ages get into car accidents. Instead of restricting the eighteen year-old adults, the government should set up ways to better educate the public of the dangers and responsibilities that come with drinking. The arguments against lowering the age of the National Minimum Purchase Age Act are insufficient compared to the benefits of having the drinking age changed to eighteen. Since the number twenty-one has no real basis of maturity, the government should have kept the legal drinking age where it was and kept the public educated rather than taking a right away from the adults under the age of twenty-one.

The twenty-one restriction seems out of date in today's society. Many parents of today's teenagers were legally allowed to drink at the age of eighteen. Today's teenagers face more responsibility and are treated mu

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