Essay 3.1: 21 Works

To the National Youth Rights Association:

I am writing this letter in response to your statements and actions reflecting the belief to lower the minimum drinking age in the U.S. from 21 years old to 18 years old. I strongly believe that the minimum drinking age should stay at the current age of 21 years. I think we both agree that this issue is one of great importance and the factors regarding it should be carefully considered from both sides.

Let me start off by saying I wholeheartedly believe in what you stand for as an organization. The power of the younger generations is vital to the well-being of our nation and the rest of the world.  You provide the type of vigor and inspiration the youth of our country needs to take pride in our future. Not only does this type of support motivate the youth to care about issues affecting them, but it is also necessary to catapult the generation’s presence into impending conflicts affecting different types of people all over the world; your powerful influence does just this.

Being 19 years old, I am part of a younger generation of voters. It’s thrilling to know that our democracy allows us to have a say in the governing process. I hope I’m not making a vast assumption when I say that many young people tend to focus on the issues that only affect them currently. (I, for one am not too concerned with social security rights.) However, it is safe to say that this issue is extremely significant to discuss because it reaches deeper than only affecting those in the range between the current minimum drinking age and your desired minimum drinking age. You state, “The National Youth Rights Association does not feel this is an issue primarily about alcohol; rather it is an issue about equality, honesty, respect, discrimination and freedom” (Frequently, par. 9). I could not agree more with this statement. This issue generates not only a question of how old one needs to be to consume alcohol, but it brings to mind these imminent conflicts of equality, honesty, respect, discrimination and freedom. Before I go on, I would like to first thank you for making so many young people aware of impending conflicts; because without a sense of awareness, we would lose a lot of our generation in the ongoing fight for a better future.

It is very important for me to mention that I completely understand where you are coming from. I acknowledge that it does not seem fair that an 18-year-old can vote, serve on a jury, fight for his or her country, pay taxes and so on, but they are not able to consume alcohol. I am constantly hearing my peers whine about how it isn't fair that the drinking age is 21 and not 18, like it was when their parents were that age. What many of them don't acknowledge, or don't even realize, is that it is far too dangerous to allow eighteen-year-olds to access alcohol for a variety of reasons. I think we can both agree that The National Minimum Drinking Age Act has taken a major influence on the lives of America’s youth since it was signed into law on July 17, 1984. You mention, “While the 21-year-old drinking age seems imbedded in American society, it is only a recent innovation” (Legislative, par. 1). Yes, this raise in the minimum drinking age is recent in retrospect, but more important to realize is that it was changed for a reason. The 18 drinking age was not working for many reasons.

 As part of the war protests of the 1960’s, youths started urging a lowered drinking age. The 26^th amendment was soon after adopted in 1971 and many states reduced the drinking age to 18, while some reduced it to 19 or 20. Soon after, these states started seeing a drastic increase in the number of alcohol-related injuries and fatalities among teens; most frequent among these were traffic injuries and fatalities. During this time, the problem of “blood borders” resulted in teens getting injured or dying in car accidents while travelling between their home states to neighboring states that had lower drinking ages. (Top, par. 4) According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, during the years where the states had lower drinking ages “the lives of 555 youths per year would have been saved if the drinking age had been 21 in all states of the U.S” (Beer, par. 1). The studies performed by NBER reveal that “the death rate of 18 through 20 year olds is inversely related to the minimum legal age for the purchase of beer” (Beer, par. 1). It’s safe to say that the lower drinking age did not work. I don’t think we disagree on the fact that saving lives and preventing suffering among a generation which holds the fate of our nation is a good thing. Clearly, the current drinking age has proved to save lives. It’s such a shame that so many lives had to be lost before we realized that the lower drinking age was not working. However, this only strengthens the resolve today to keep fighting for what’s really important- which is protecting the lives of our youth. It's more important to be alive then to be entitled to get drunk.

In lowering the drinking age to 18, even more high school students and middle school students will be able to access alcohol more easily. This introduces the conflicts of the “forbidden fruit” versus the “low-hanging fruit.” (Top, par. 8). A lot of the allure of alcohol is believed to originate with the idea of the forbidden fruit. Kids know they are not allowed to drink alcohol, which makes them want to try it out even more. However, lowering the drinking age will replace this concept with the threat that more of these curious students will enlist the help of their 18-year-old friend or sibling to provide them with alcohol. Although many kids get access to alcohol through 21-year-olds now, the opportunity to obtain alcohol will be easier with more contacts closer in age. Also, these younger teens seeing even more 18-year-olds drinking will have the inevitable influence to experiment with alcohol as well. The 1978 National Study of Adolescent Drinking Behavior found discouraging information:

“10^th – 12^th graders in states with lower drinking ages drank significantly more, were drunk more often, and were less likely to abstain from alcohol. Additionally, national data show that high school seniors who could not legally drink until age 21 drank less before age 21 and between ages 21 – 25 than did students in states with lower drinking ages” (Top, par. 8).

In relation to this threat, another conflict is introduced with the concern of future effects alcohol has on one’s adult life if alcohol is familiarized earlier in life. With the vast amount of alcoholics in our nation, it is unfortunately easy to admit that dependence on alcohol is not too hard to become succumbed to. Even more vulnerable to alcoholism are those who are introduced to alcohol at a young age. The assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, Arpana Agrawa, Ph.D. says “From a biological perspective, early AFD [a.k.a age at first drink] may induce changes in the highly sensitive adolescent brain, which may also modify an individual’s subsequent genetic vulnerability to AD [a.k.a alcohol dependence]” (Early, par. 3). Seemingly, the relationship between an early age at first drink and a vulnerability to alcohol dependence shows a strong connection. “We know that alcohol use affects an adolescent brain differently than it does an adult. We know that because of this addiction, onset can occur much sooner in a teenager (6-18 months) than an adult (5 years)” (Top, par. 7) Therefore, the longer we delay the onset of drinking of teens, the easier we can avoid their vulnerability to alcohol dependency. Alcoholism is a serious issue effecting both young and old. Unfortunately, vulnerability to alcohol dependency is not ideally controlled today. However, it is imperative that we help more members of the younger generation avoid such a fate by delaying their introduction to casual use of alcohol.

Although I probably can’t change your opinion in just one letter, I hope that you keep in mind the dangers lowering the drinking age can bring. I think we both can agree that knowledge of alcohol and its effects should be taught to kids at a young age. I think that this knowledge should be introduced to students in high school and even in middle school when alcohol is often first introduced. Perhaps if alcohol education is incorporated into the curriculum more heavily, then these threats of misuse at a young age will not pose a danger to those who are aware of alcohol’s consequences. I will not deny that alcohol is frequently used by those who are underage. However, because of the current minimum drinking age, underage offenders are forced to be more careful where and when they consume alcohol. Lowering the drinking age will break any sense of control these teens have, causing even more danger than what ensued in the 70’s. I would hope that eventually, a new generation will be able to understand the true repercussions of misuse of alcohol, but unfortunately I strongly believe that the current youth does not. You have so much influence on our future generation as an organization. My request is that you take the immense power you are using to motivate a younger drinking age and instead focus that energy on educating youth on the dangers of alcohol. This paves the path to a better future so that eventually teens will be knowledgeable enough to take responsibility in alcohol consumption at younger ages.

There current drinking age was put into law for many reasons. Whether it’s to save lives, or to avoid early access to alcohol and a fate of alcoholism, the reasons behind the law are extremely valid. The drinking age of 21 is established to protect America’s youth. We can both agree that the younger generation controls the future. That idea of power amongst my generation is truly empowering. I would not want to give that up just so that teens from the ages of 18-20 can legally have a drink, risking a demise of such hope in the youth. In the 1970’s when the legal drinking age was 18, we saw what destruction was caused in emotional damage and in losing lives. Like I said before, I truly respect the cause of your organization. I know it comes from a root of morality and justice. So, I beg you to channel that foundation and ask yourself, are we really willing to risk the future of our youth for this?

Thank you for considering my position and thank you for continuing to do your influential and inspiring work.

Sincerely, 

Molly Podell

Works Cited

Arnold-Burger, Karen. "The Top Five Reasons We Should Keep the Drinking Age at 21." 4prevention.wordpress.com. Regional Prevention Center, 06 Aug. 2008. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

"Early Age At First Drink May Modify Tween/Teen Risk For Alcohol Dependence." Www.medicalnewstoday.com. Medical News Today, 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

"Frequently Asked Questions." Www.youthrights.org. National Youth Rights Association. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

Koroknay, Alex. "Legislative Analysis of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act." Www.youthrights.org. National Youth Rights Association. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

Saffer, Henry, and Henry Grossman. "Beer Taxes, the Legal Drinking Age, and Youth Motor Vehicle Fatalities." Www.nber.org. The National Bureau of Economic Research, June 1987. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.