"The Legal Drinking Age Policy Has Been Effective." Should the Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered? Ed. Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "Key Results: Mimimim Legal Drinking Age Policy." SAPRP.org. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
This article goes through the reasons and data behind why many think that the law that prohibits underaged drinking is effective. It provides some important statistics including the 11% reduction in alcohol related motor vehicle fatalities for drivers under the age of twenty one because of the zero tolerance policy. The article also goes on to provide information the dangers of underaged drinking and the self destructive habit it can develop.
Although this article makes a very sound argument against changing the policy on underaged drinking, I feel like it fails to consider how much more effective an alternate solution would be. Rather than simply banning underaged drinking, a good solution in my opinion would be to allow young adults to drink under the supervision of adults where the adult can legally teach the adolescent how to responsibly consume alcohol and through experience perhaps the adolescent will be less likely to end up in the hospital because of alcoholism.
The Substance Abuse Policy Research Program is an initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that focuses on analyzing and informing public and private policies aimed at reducing the harm caused by alcohol, drugs, and tobacco. A credible source when it comes to supporting the current law against underaged drinking.
ReplyDelete