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Free Example of Alcohol Consumption Essay
Does drinking alcohol have any importance or benefits to the person consuming? This is a question that most people who do not consume alcohol ask themselves. Most people associate alcohol drinking with health problems like heart and liver diseases. Research has indicated that moderate drinking of alcohol or wine has health benefits like reduction of cases of heart diseases and in some cases doctors prescribed wine to those people suffering from heart disease (Solohub 77). Alcohol drinking reduces chances of heart attack by more than fifty percent. Wine contains some vitamin B and sugar which is refined and helps in improving the health condition of the drinker. The drinking age therefore should be lowered from twenty one years to eighteen years to help the teens enjoy these benefits and avoid health complications. Taking a unit of wine everyday will help keep at bay all health complications.
Reasons why drinking age should be reduced from 21 years to 18 years. A person aged eighteen years should be allowed to purchase and drink alcohol because at this age a person is mature and is legally allowed to vote and also work in the military in the united state which shows that the person is an adult. At this age the person is treated as a mature person and has also the right to marry because he can make good decisions. When the drinking age is legally lowered, the people will be drinking responsibly because by limiting those people who are aged eighteen years from drinking has resulted to the youths hiding to take alcohol thus leading to high rate drinking by the youths. A research by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDU) indicates that eighty five percent of people aged below twenty years have taken alcohol at some time. Due to the fact that youths are not supposed to take alcohol in public places has resulted to use of alcohol in the house and thus for this reason the drinking age should be legally lowered to help the youth drink responsibly without hiding.
Scientists show that when young people are introduced to alcohol, under age abuse of alcohol is reduced. People below the age of twenty one years in Argentina, Spain and France do not abuse alcohol. This is because they were introduced to it by their family who perceive drinking of alcohol to be normal and natural. These young people do not shame their family members by abusing alcohol or being irresponsible. When young people are given a chance, they behave themselves in a mature way and are very upright. Restricting them from accessing alcohol does not help them rather they feel like they are still young children and for them to prove that they are not children, they will drink alcohol just like those over twenty one years thus ignoring the law.
People argue that a person aged twenty one years has high tolerance to alcohol compared to a person aged eighteen years but this is not true. One cannot be in a position to tell the amount of alcohol to handle unless one takes it. Age does not determine the level of tolerance to alcohol and in some case a young person can be in a position to handle the effects of alcohol than a person who is aged twenty one years and over. Tolerance depends on how responsible a person is.
Alcohol is seen as a fruit which is forbidden to those people under the age of twenty one years. This has resulted to most people less than twenty one years to drink due to their curiosity. By legally reducing the drinking age from twenty one years to eighteen years, the curiosity will be reduced and the young people will drink the right amount responsibly.
When the drinking age is lowed to eighteen years, cases related to alcohol will be reduced. Countries like Greece, China and Italy where the drinking age is lowed to eighteen years do not experience problems resulting from alcohol drinking. Deaths resulting from alcohol are being witnessed because the people below eighteen years take alcohol in hideouts and thus end up taking excess of it.
The students under the age of twenty one years in college are able to access alcohol through their seniors and drink. Since they are not allowed to drink in public places or events, they end up becoming rebellious (Leit & Parish 148). They drink excessively when they get a chance like in college because they do not know the next time they will access the alcohol. This result to death and other problems associated with excessive drinking and thus the drinking age should be lowered in order for them to drink responsibly. Universities and colleges advocate for age reduction because the students aged below twenty one years are taking a lot of alcohol which has resulted to many problems. Legalizing the drinking age to be eighteen will reduce the death rates experienced in colleges due to alcohol consumption since the students will consume responsibly.
A research on students shows that twenty two percent of students below the age of twenty one and eighteen percent of all students above twenty one years are heavy consumers of alcohol. By legally lowering the drinking age to eighteen years, colleges can be in a position to regulate the consumption rate of alcohol by the students to prevent excessive drinking.
Drinking alcohol has various health benefits which the people below the age of twenty one should be allowed to enjoy especially due to their eating habits and lifestyle. When wine or alcohol is taken in moderate quantities the level of cholesterol can be lowered and also the blood pressure. Alcohol provides the body with the necessary cholesterol. Research indicates that moderate use of alcohol reduces the problem of the kidney and thus the chances of kidney failure for those who use alcohol are limited. The bone density is increased and memory power enhanced for those people who use wine or alcohol in moderate quantities.
Moderate use of alcohol has been known to cause low risks of diabetes cases to both men and women. It lowers the level of insulin thus reducing the diabetes risks. In order to protect the young people from getting diabetes out of their bad eating habits then the drinking age should be lowed to accommodate them.
When people turn eighteen, they start taking responsibilities for their future and these could affect their life. For this reason a person aged eighteen years should be allowed to purchase and drink alcohol (Goldberg 109). A person is also treated as an adult in United States and therefore should be answerable for his actions and punished by the judicial system for crime committed. Anybody above the age of eighteen is an adult and should not be prohibited from drinking alcohol.
When the drinking age is lowered to eighteen years, those young people with problems associated with alcohol drinking will confidently look for help without fearing to be victimized by the parents or the state. The law restricting the young people under the age of eighteen to take alcohol cannot be effectively enforced because people can use fake identification cards to purchase alcohol or can better still send older friends to buy for them (Solohub 71). To avoid this, it is important to lower the drinking age in order to encourage responsible drinking.
A study on cancer prevention showed that drinking of alcohol reduced death caused by stroke. The study stated that those who take a drink in a week reduce the chances of getting stroke compared to those who don’t. Therefore by young people being allowed to take alcohol at the age of eighteen, the chances of deaths resulting from alcohol will be reduced (Brannon 218).
It is very arbitrary to set the age of those who can drink alcohol at twenty one years because at eighteen years Americans are very responsible and leave their homes to work or college. They are very responsible in daily activities and thus should not be restricted from taking alcohol. Many young people find it hard to adhere to these restrictions and end up assuming them. This makes the policemen and legislators seem ineffective by trying to enforce laws which will automatically be ignored. So to avoid this kind of ignorance, the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen years.
Conclusion
Alcohol consumption has been assumed by most people to only have negative effects to the consumers and this has resulted to the drinking age being set at twenty one years. By restricting the young people from accessing alcohol only makes the problem worse rather than solving. This article gives the reasons why the drinking age should be lowered from twenty one years to eighteen years. People aged eighteen years of age are mature people who can make their future decisions and be responsible and thus should not be denied the opportunity of drinking alcohol. Alcohol has many health benefits as explained in this article and due to the bad eating habits of the young people, they should be allowed to access alcohol and enjoy these benefits.