Legal Drinking Age- 18 or 21?

            At the age of eighteen people enter legal adulthood.  They are able to get married, join the military, gamble, buy tobacco products, and begin establishing credit.  The only freedom an adult of age eighteen does not have is the right to purchase or consume alcoholic beverages.  The legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen to accommodate the legal age of adulthood. 

            I broke the law on my wedding night.  Although I was a married woman, drinking a glass of champagne during my honeymoon was a punishable crime by law since I was only eighteen.  There are hundreds of eighteen to twenty year old couples who make the decision, as adults, to get married; it is perfectly legal to do so in most states after the age of eighteen.  Apparently the government thinks that although people are old enough to make legally binding commitments to other people, they are still not mature and responsible enough to have a traditional glass of champagne at their weddings. 

            Military personnel under the age of twenty-one can’t legally drink a beer in the United States, but at any time they might get called out to war and die for their country.  It is even a requirement for men to enroll for the draft at the age of eighteen.  It is ridiculous that people who could die for their freedom can’t even enjoy the freedoms they protect in the nation they would give their lives for. 

I understand that the current legal age of twenty-one was likely established to cut down on the number of alcohol related car accidents and health problems, but the fact in most cases is that the age restriction rarely stands in the way of underage drinking.  If teenagers want alcohol they can usually find an older friend to buy it for them.  After getting the goods, they will probably go somewhere private so they won’t get caught.  This probably means that they will have to drive a farther distance to get home, or ride with someone else under the influence of alcohol.  This is not only a hazard to the people who have been drinking, but to each person, animal, house and road sign that they pass in their vehicle. 

Part of the reason that underage drinking is so popular is because it shows rebellion.  There’s an excitement from knowing something is illegal, and an adrenaline rush from the risk of getting caught to add to the feeling of drunkenness.  If the legal age were lowered to eighteen, the excitement would be taken away from the eighteen to twenty year old alcohol consumers.  This may possibly cut down on this age of the population’s drinking, and the related accidents and health problems associated with it. 

Americans, living in the Land of the Free, can get married, defend the nation, act as an adult and be held legally responsible after their eighteenth birthday.  Surely they can have a glass of wine with their dinner without worrying about getting a fine or jail sentence when they don’t drive or act irresponsibly.  Hopefully the government will realize this problem and give equal rights to all adults.