Emily Young Source 1

My Question: "Why is the U.S drinking age 21?"

Carpenter, Christopher, and Carlos Dobkin. "The Minimum Legal Drinking Age and Public Health." Journal of Economic Perspectives 25.2 (2011): 133-56. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

The journal that I first read through for my topic of the U.S drinking age covered a variety of points on the issue. It first talked about a common misconception on the idea of the legal drinking age being 21: that it does not help or prevent young adults from abusing the drug. The authors also pointed out that if the drinking age were to be lowered, there could be a tax on drunk drivers who get pulled over if they were a certain age. Also, one of the footnotes the authors put into their article was the suggestion of having a lower blood alcohol content for young adults.

I agreed with many of the points that the authors had to say in their article. I struggled finding a reason why the drinking age should be lowered in the United States. At first, my only excuse was if a soldier of 18 can enlist to fight for our country, then he/she should be able to come home and enjoy a drink legally with friends and family. This article gave me the opportunity to branch out my thought process on the subject. If the drinking age were lowered to 18 and there was a tax on 18 year olds who drove while intoxicated, would the harmful affects of drinking such as car accidents be lowered significantly? Would a tax on blood alcohol content cause young adults to be more responsible with their alcohol intake? I think that if young adults had some sort of guideline that helped them drink responsibly, then both those questions would be a solid "yes". Also, if the drinking age were lowered, parents would have the chance to teach their kids to properly respect alcohol. 

This source caused me to ask quite a few new questions. Would limits on certain ages of young adults actually help our country's drunken fatal accidents number? My only concern with lowering the drinking age, although I am for it, would be that not every young adult of the age of 18 would be as responsible as I, or the rest of America, would hope. Would we follow these limitations if the drinking age were lowered? Would it benefit the economy in any way? A larger demographic would be purchasing alcohol if the drinking age were lowered, so yes, perhaps. However, would the amount of drunken fatal accidents outweigh the amount that the economy has grown due to alcohol purchases?

J