The drinking age in the United States is now twenty one years of age. Some people believe that this age is too high to be the minimum age to be able to legally drink and others feel that it is the perfect age. This topic is very huge and has been debated for years. The United States drinking age has gone up and down, and recently, in 1984, it has gone up to twenty one. Many events took place before the drinking age went up. It all began when the United States slowly tried to ban alcohol in every state for every person no matter what your age was. They did succeed. This is called National Prohibition. Prohibition started in 1919 and lasted until 1933. When Prohibition started, the Constitution gained the 18th Amendment. The 18th Amendment "prohibited the manufacture, sale, transport, import, or export of alcoholic beverages ". However, this amendment was repealed in 1933 by the 21th amendment, which legalized beer and other alcohol. Once National Prohibition ended, each state created their own set of drinking laws. Some were twenty one; others were eighteen, and then some in between. This lasted for a few years, but then the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 came along. This act forced all states to change their drinking age to twenty one or lose part of the Federal-aid highway funds. It also said the states should pass laws that helped fight drunk driving. So, the drinking ages were set to twenty one, but this could change. Having the drinking age set to twenty one might not be the best. National Prohibition and safety issues, like underground drinking, are all factors that must be considered in making this decision. Because of these factors, the national drinking age of the United States should be lowered from twenty one to eighteen. .
Ponder for a moment on how many young adult and teenagers illegally drink under the age of twenty one. It is a fact that more than three in four teenagers consume alcohol when they are high school seniors.
