lis WIit's iBSIII: TIie Drinking All

Should

by Mike Bevelaqua - staff writer

With age comes experience and experience is one of the most proficient teachers. With that in mind ask yourself this question: "How can we expect adolescents and young adults drink responsibly?" I mean, a lot of adults cannot control their drinking and the result is a growing of a progressive illness. Why lower the drinking age and expose the risks of a drug to a younger portion of the population? Ponder that while still realizing the casualties that result from drunk driving.

With this on the table how would you be able to convince anyone to lower the drinking age? The first response usually submitted is the point that every other country in the world has either 18 as the drinking age or no drinking age at all. Although this does seem to work for the rest of the world, to change now would be to open up the floodgates and cause a surge of alcohol-related problems, especially among young adults. The rest of the world also uses the metric system, but for the United States to convert to kilos, much like lowering the drinking age would cause chaos.

If the drinking age were to be lowered what would teenagers and young adults have to look forward to? Imagine high school seniors going off to college legally allowed to consume alcohol. We all know how much drinking takes place on college campuses while the drinking age is 21. By lowering the drinking age, college and university campuses will become literally submerged in Natty Ice. Besides, your 21st birthday should be something memorable and exciting. It has been two years since any new responsibility has been thrust upon you. When you 're 18 you are given the right to defend this wonderful country. If the legal drinking age were I 8 you would not have anything to look forward to except maybe your IO-year high school reunion or 30th birthday. There is one stipulation I would like to express. If at 18, you are allowed to defend this great country with your life then why should you not be allowed to enjoy an alcoholic beverage? This is one aspect of the red, white and blue I cannot for the life of me understand. If you are old enough to die for your country then I see no reason why you should not be legally permitted to drink. My solution: enlisted men and women should be legally allowed to drink at 18. This might also cause an influx of young men and women at the recruitment offices, but this could be just what the military needs to boost enlistment.

Do not miss understand me, I am not against anyone who likes to enjoy an alcoholic beverage now and then (I have been having wine with dinner before I was legally allowed) however, I do not see any reason to for the drinking age to be lowered. Like I said, wisdom comes with experience and young adults by that token alone, are not as responsible. Besides, it is not very hard for young adults to get alcohol into their possession, but why make it even easier?

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