When I ask myself the question, should the legal drinking age be 21? I have a hard time coming up with an answer. I am 20 years old and can not legally drink, but shouldn't I be able to legally drink because I am considered an adult and can be drafted to fight in a war for our country. When a person turns 18 he or she is considered an adult, yet still can not go to the bar or buy alcohol. Some reasons that first come to mind of why the legal drinking age is 21 are; it might save lives by keeping people from drinking and driving, because if people could drink at the age of 19 then there would be more people drinking and driving, which would increase the risk of drinking related accidents. The maturity level of an 18 year old may not be at the same level as someone who is 21. When someone is 18 they are still in high school and are somewhat immature and if they could drink then it would make it much easier for younger high school students to obtain and consume alcohol, thus increasing alcohol related automobile accidents. From my own personal experience it is not hard to obtain alcohol when you are in high school, I never had a problem finding someone who was 21 to purchase alcohol for me or my friends, so I don't think it would make much of a difference it the legal drinking age is 18 instead of 21, it is still just as easy fro minors to obtain alcohol. Once a student is out of high school and goes college he or she will meet friends that are 21 and able to legally drink and go to bars. Which makes me think that someone who is 20 should be able to go to the bar. Since the law is 21, students often buy fake ids or borrow a friend's id to get into the bar with their older friends. This causes a major problem because bar owners have to take extra time and spend extra money to make sure people don't use fake ids to consume alcohol.
When I discussed the legal drinking age with a friend, she brought up the maturity level issue.