Congratulations!!! You are 18 years old; You can officially, vote, go to war, buy a gun, purchase yourself some tobacco, get a tattoo, get married, go to an R or X rated movie, buy a pornography film or magazine or even star in one, move out of your home, own a credit card, get prosecuted as an adult, and most importantly you are no longer considered a minor, but officially an adult . Amidst all of this, consume any amount of alcohol and consider yourself a criminal, because you are breaking the law. Not until the age of 21 may you consume any amount of alcohol legally. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this? No. Actually, there are thousands of people completely outraged with Americas drinking age. It is when that person gets out of control, or steps behind the wheel of a car, that he or she becomes a great danger to others while under the influence, but that can happen to anyone, whether you are 21 or younger. America already has laws against drunk driving and drunken violence. However, we should not have laws outlawing drinking because it alone is an activity that absolutely does no physical harm to others. In other words, the problem is not whether or not you use alcohol, it is how you use it.
The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 and young adults should be allowed to drink in controlled environments such as restaurants, taverns, pubs, bars and official school and university functions. As a nation we have tried prohibition legislation twice in the past for controlling irresponsible drinking problems. This was during National Prohibition in the 1920s and state prohibition during the 1850s. These laws were finally repealed because they were unenforceable and because the backlash towards them caused other problems. Today we are repeating history and making the same mistakes that occurred in the past. Prohibition did not work then and prohibition for young people under the age of 21 is not working now.