The United States should lower its legal drinking age to 18.

While this idea may seem blunt, blind, and immature there are several legitimate reasons to back up this popular argument.

During the U.S. involvement during the Vietnam war, protesters of the selective service argued that if someone was old enough at 18 to fight and die for their country through the draft, that individual should not be denied the right to vote until age 21.

In response to these protests, the U.S. government passed the 26th amendment to our Constitution, granting any citizen 18 or older the right to vote. Some of the same logic applies to the drinking age.

At the age of 18 in this country, one can attend college, get married without a parent’s permission, fight in the military and vote. If you can do all these things, and be considered an adult under the law, why are you not legally allowed to consume alcoholic beverages until age 21?

If you can live on your own, marry the love of your life, fight and die for your country, and vote for the next president, then why should the government be able to restrict your personal beverage choice for another three years?

Some scientists and doctors say that the human brain does not fully develop until you reach your mid-20s, but the law that applies to abortion and a woman’s right to choose should also be applied to drinking alcohol.

In other words, “Your brain, your choice” should be a fitting rallying cry for adults everywhere aged 18, 19, and 20 who deserve the right to choose whether or not to drink just like women, at the age of 18, can legally make their own decision on

childbirth and their body.

Another big point to the drinking age argument is that a lot of under-aged adults are motivated to drink by the fact that it is illegal, and many groups perceive breaking the law as cool. By this logic, lowering the drinking age will actually reduce the number of 18-20 year olds who consume alcohol.

Also, college is a breeding ground for underage drinkers, because the majority of college students are between the ages of 18 and 22, there are college students who can drink legally. The underclassmen who are not yet 21 feel left out at parties and student organizations which involve alcohol.

So if they are going to drink anyway, we should at least make it legal and stop using our police resources to enforce a law that is as dumb as it is pointless. Our forces are stretched thin as it is and we wasting their time having them enforce a legal drinking age that forbids adults from drinking certain drinks.

I am in no way endorsing underage drinking, nor am I saying I partake in such activities, because I do not. All I am trying to get across is the point that if somebody is legally an adult, why are they still treated like children in this aspect of the law?

Brad Kupiec is a freshman journalism major. He can be reached at 581-7942 or

[email protected].