Alcohol Consumption
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The minimum legal age for alcohol consumption around the world is twenty-one years. This age limit was passed by law with the best of intentions to minimize abuse of alcohol by the teenagers. At twenty-one years, alcohol consumption is merely due to peer influence and curiosity. There is no justification for the consumption, but one indulges into alcoholism simply because his or her friends consume alcohol. It is assumed that, at this age, one cannot make sound decisions about life issues. He or she is mature, responsible and accountable for their actions. This is not the case when it comes to alcohol consumption especially by teenagers who constitute a significant percentage of individuals in this age group. It is my strong belief that the alcohol consumption age limit should be raised albeit many who would strongly believe that the current one is sufficient to uphold a responsible society.
However, I feel that the minimal legal age for alcohol consumption should be raised to twenty-five years. This is because this age comes with many responsibilities and reality check about one’s life. The maturity level has also increased, thus one makes wise decisions. The reasons for alcohol consumption at twenty-five years of age are not due to peer influence and indulging in careless behavior (Maisto, Galizio and Connors, 2010). Alcohol consumption at this age could be justifiable unlike the case with teenagers.
By increasing the minimum age, there will be prevention of injuries sustained when one is drunk and death related cases especially among the youth. Young people are prone to over-indulging in alcoholism and later go on and drive when they are drunk. This increases the cases of road accidents and hence death. At twenty-five years, one can make sound decisions of not drinking and driving since they can foresee the danger ahead if they did so. At twenty-five years, one knows how much they can take in and handle. This comes with responsibility.
Most of the people at twenty -five years of age have gained enormous and serious responsibility in their lives and may tend to minimize on alcohol consumption. They get their priorities right and attend to the urgent and relevant issues first. Most of them have parenting responsibility and bills to pay. This is opposed to the twenty one year old people who just want to drink for fun and carelessly. Most of the people in this age bracket are college students who have all their needs taken care of by their parents and guardians hence they have no responsibility. They use the money that they get access to for having fun and indulging like in alcohol consumption, since they do not have any form of responsibility in their lives (Fleckenstein, Venturelli and Hanson, 2011).
Therefore, the minimum legal age for alcohol consumption should be raised in my opinion. This will significantly reduce the number of detrimental effects of alcohol especially for the young people. In turn, this will prevent irresponsible drinking, build the society and minimize alcohol abuse by the young people.
References
Fleckenstein, A., Venturelli, P.J., Hanson, G.R., (2011). Drugs and Society. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Maisto, S.A., Galizio, M., Connors G.R., (2010). Drug Use and Abuse. California: Cengage Learning.