I'm not quite sure what topic I want to write about. I want to pick a topic that is not only relevant to me, but relevant to my peers as well. A few hot topics among my age group is legalizing marijuana and lowering the drinking age to 18. As for the legalization of marijuana, I support it for a variety of reasons. However, I think that this topic may be a bit over-used. When it comes to lowering the drinking age to 18, I disagree with those supporting that. A few months ago, I came over an article that thoughtfully analyzes why 21 is the right minimum age to buy alcohol. It was backed up by clear, strong reasons and evidence. I do acknowledge that it does not seem fair that an 18 year old can serve on a jury, fight for his or her country, get married, and pay taxes but they are not able to buy alcohol. However, when it comes to saving lives, sometimes one has to reiterate what their parents have always told them- "sometimes, life isn't fair". It's more important to be alive then to be entitled to get drunk. I'm 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. Some of the reasons I will touch upon is that:
1) There is substantial evidence that shows that after the drinking age was raised back to 21 the amount of alcohol-related car accidents and fatalities has decreased
2) When alcohol is introduced at a young age, there is more time for someone to develop a dependency on it.
3) It is proven that the brain does not fully develop until the age of 21.
4) The idea of the desire of "tasting the forbidden fruit" vs. "low-hanging fruit" (If it's there- people are going to use it, and for many, overuse it)
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