The drinking age should be raised

Dear editor,

I’m writing in response to your article about raising the drinking age from 18 to 21. I disagree with this proposal as this isn’t the root of the problem. Raising the drinking age will only result in an increase in crime because teens will break more rules to obtain alcohol, it will affect the economy as teens are the majority of people who consume it, and also, others’ may turn to chemical substances that contain small amounts of alcohol.

Raising the drinking age can result in an increase in crime because if they can’t get it legally, there is nothing stopping them from them getting someone else to obtain it for them. Because this act will be illegal, they will be breaking the law. They will also be acting on the basis of, “when you can’t have something, you want it more”. This means teens won’t stop at any limits to get alcohol. Because they know they can’t have it, this acts as a motive. This will lead to more teens getting into trouble; probably more than they were getting into before. This is similar to the party-pill ban that happened earlier. People stocked up, and sold them to desperate customers who absolutely needed to have them, at ridiculous prices. Who says that this won’t have the same effect?

It will also affect the economy because the majority of people who consume alcohol, are of the younger crowd. If the drinking age is raised, then the number in alcohol sales will drastically drop. Teens won’t be able to access it as easily, but they could get someone else to purchase it for them. But his is a two-step process, which will still cause sales to drop. Or retailers may increase the prices of alcohol because not as many people are buying it, or because of the global recession. This is another significant reason to why raising the drinking age will not have the desired effect, especially during this economically hard time.

If teens don’t have access to alcohol, some may turn to chemical substances that contain it. It may only be a small percentage of alcohol, and the substance may be extremely hazardous, but some will go through anything just to have some. Not only is this unsafe, but very stupid. Consuming a chemical substance endangers your life and is unhealthy. Because raising the drinking age can result in teens turning to alcohol substitutes. This could also mean they could turn to drugs. Because drugs offer a quicker effect and are highly addictive, it could be a prime solution to those who can’t have alcohol.

However, raising the drinking age could have a strong influence on the number of teen pregnancies and drink-driving accidents. There are several teens that get knocked up every single year due to being drunk, usually at a party. Alcohol mixed with under aged consumers who can’t hold their liquor, produce irresponsible teens who make big mistakes. By raising the drinking age, this could be stopped. Also a large number of drink-driving accidents have happened recently due to teens driving under the influence of alcohol. By raising the drinking age, these incidents could be significantly reduced.

Raising the drinking age isn’t the solution to this problem. The government needs to look at this through a different perspective. If the drinking age is raised, what’s preventing them from getting someone else to get it for them? If drink-driving is the problem, then why not raise the driving age so teens won’t be able to cause havoc on the road? And can they guarantee that this is the best decision considering how our economy is currently coping? Like they say… “IT’S NOT THE DRINKING, IT’S HOW WE’RE DRINKING”