The topic of alcohol and the legal drinking age is very relevant to high schoolers today. In America, where the legal drinking age is 21, many teenagers start drinking alcohol earlier than that. The act of drinking becomes something that is rebellious and secretive. Parents punish their kids for “going behind their back” and sneaking around intoxicated. Other places around the world don’t have these same issues because their drinking age is either 18 or 16.

In Europe, drinking alcohol is seen as an activity to do while socializing, consisting of only a few drinks. It could be over dinner with their family or a social event with friends. In Switzerland the drinking age is 16 for wine and beer and 18 for Spirits (hard liquor). They only have a 9.5% alcoholic percentage whereas the US has a 13.9% alcoholic percentage according to World Population Review.

The National Library of Medicine recorded a study from a 2006–2007 National Health Interview Survey that found that people of ages 18-25 said they drank 36 days of the past year with about 5.1 drinks each time. This amount of drinking is considered to be binging. It can be argued that the reason it is worse in the US is because of the legal drinking age.

Once young adults go off to college, it is seen that they use this new sense of freedom as an opportunity to experiment with drinking. This is usually in an excessive manner. The Alcoholic Rehab Guide states that about 20% of college students meet the criteria for having an alcohol use disorder. It is concerning to see this number because it makes you think, how many of those students develop an alcohol addiction that stays with them for the rest of their lives?

Some could argue that the drinking age should stay 21 because young adult’s brains are still developing. The brain is still developing decision-making functions and connections with the memory center. The large consumption of alcohol could disrupt this process. Extreme drinking in young adults causes an increase in injuries, deaths and criminal activity. When intoxicated, alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways. This then causes impulsive behaviors and makes it harder to move with coordination.

These factors could be avoided by lowering the drinking age. Drinking could be seen as something to enjoy rather than always having to be heavily intoxicated when consuming alcohol. It would cause less people to feel they need to go crazy once they go to college because they would have already had access to alcohol for a few years.