You can vote, you can smoke, your considered to be an adult, and much more at the age of 18. Why can one not consume alcohol at this age? There are many, many reasons why one should be able to consume alcohol at this age and there are possible rebuttals people might have to my proposition. I will go over both in great detail, as well as my personal opinion to the subject matter. I will start out with why I think the legal drinking age should be 18 and finish with my opinion to the subject.
In the first place, there is the argument about maturity level. The main argument with that is that just because your 21 years of age doesn't mean you"re mature enough to consume alcohol or more mature than an 18 year old. 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 and official school and university functions. In these situations responsible drinking could be taught through role modeling and educational programs. They figure that a twenty-one year old person was more mature than the average eighteen year-old. I feel that just because a person lives to be twenty-one does not determine how mature they are. In this case the legality of drinking should be determined not by age, but rather maturity and ability to handle responsibility. If 21 is considered to be so mature, then why is eighteen considered an adult? Time over and over again we see people under 21 make complete idiots of themselves while drinking. But can it not be concluded that we see an equal number of people over the age of 21 engaging in those same activities? Which leads me into my next point; age does not determine whether or not an individual drinks responsibly. Although the legal purchase age is 21 years of age, a majority of college students under this age consume alcohol but in an irresponsible manner. This is because they are drinking the "forbidden fruit," a "badge of rebellion against authority", and a symbol of "adulthood.
