Let's Drink -- Responsibly
Let's Drink -- Responsibly
Introduction
I. It is legal for each one of us, as adults, to drive cars, fly planes, vote, marry, pay taxes, take out loans, and risk our lives in the armed forces. Yet, it is illegal for us to sit down to have a drink in a controlled, supervised atmosphere, or even sip champagne at your own wedding.
II. Remorseless drinking has long been a ritual of university life. Whatever the legal drinking age limit, it seems people are beginning to drink at younger and younger ages. After all, over 90% of you consume alcohol on an average of more than once a week. Efforts to decrease excessive alcohol consumption like stricter rules on campus only push the parties off campus and raise of the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 in the 80’s merely increased the business of creating fake ID’s. It is time to take action and resolve many of the underage and irresponsible drinking problems our nation endures.
III. Because of my interest and desire to help eliminate irresponsible drinking, alcoholism, and underage problems, I have done a large amount of research to provide sufficient evidence of why to support my argument. Also, I am in the age group that our nations minimum drinking age directly affects, and I feel that I have the knowledge that our nations authority will never see first hand.
IV. Because the minimum drinking age is set too high, many problems with the law, binge drinking, and irresponsibility arise, therefore we need to lower the drinking age, as well as become more proactive with today’s youth.
(Signpost: Many people are in agreement with the restriction to consume alcohol until 21, others say that it should be raised, however, the legal drinking age causes more problems than it prevents.)
Body
I. The minimum drinking age causes many avoidable problems, such as binge drinking, which lead to further complications with drinking.
A. The high drinking age creates an artificial desire among minors to abuse alcohol.
1. Ruth C. Engs, Professor of Applied Health Science at Indiana University explained how this is the “Forbidden Fruit” effect that was seen during National prohibition in the 1920s and state prohibition during the 1850s.
a) These laws actually increase consumption and binge drinking; as the high legal drinking age does now.
b) They were repealed because they were unenforceable and because the backlash...