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Lower The Drinking Age
Why Turn College Students Into Criminals?
I have a fantasy now, a half fantasy anyway, of becoming a lobbyist in Washington to lower the drinking age to 18.
Almost all college freshmen drink and tend to drink too much because they don’t have ready access to the stuff, not even beer. The 21-year drinking age turns almost all college kids into lawbreakers, criminals. The illegal manufacturing and use of fake IDs, usually driver’s licenses, is rampant.
The Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) in America is most problematic.
Persons under 21 are not permitted to purchase alcohol. So instead of imbibing a beer or two at a ball game or a concert, or sipping a glass of wine or a cocktail in a restaurant, people under 21 tend to hide their drinking by chugging alcohol inside their dorm rooms, homes, or fraternities and sororities prior to going out.
A 2008 Gallup poll suggests that 77% of the adult U.S. population opposes lowering the drinking age. Yet, The United States is the only major First World nation where the drinking age is 21.
The drinking age in Canada is 18 or 19, depending upon the province. It’s 18 for numerous countries including Australia, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, Uganda, and Ireland.
