Alcohol. Whether it’s a frosty cold beer from your garage fridge, a glass of wine at some fancy dinner party, or anything in a red solo cup in your best friend’s basement, alcohol is abundant in our lives. Coming from the South Side of Chicago, you will encounter it pretty often: St. Paddy’s day, New Year’s, 4th of July…all of which have people grabbing a drink, getting together and having a good time.
The drinking age in Illinois stands firm at 21 years old. The thing is, that does not stop anyone underage from actually consuming alcohol. You’ll see it on people’s social media stories, posts, and hear about it when you ask what they did over the weekend and no one makes an issue out of it. I think the drinking age should be lowered to 18 years old.
One reason is because I do not think that there is a genuine problem with underage drinking. You do not see kids in high school on the streets brown bagging a bottle of scotch or tweaking out because they haven’t had a fix while they’re in school.
According to an MHS Media poll of 148 Marist students, 66.2% responded that few young adults, 18 – 21, have a drinking problem, 24.3% say that the majority do, while 5.4% state that there isn’t a drinking problem at this age.
When asked if the drinking age was lowered, if it would affect students academically or socially, 43.9%, of students believed that it would STRONGLY impact them, 39.9% believe that it would SLIGHTLY impact them, and 16.2% of students said it wouldn’t impact them at all.
In fact, outside of the United States, several other countries have the drinking age anywhere from 16-18 years old, like in Greece, Italy and Ireland. Other places allow drinking at those ages if accompanied by a sober adult.
Another reason is the fact that you are considered a legal adult at 18. You’re off to college, doing your own taxes, able to vote, and most importantly, eligible for the military draft. If you are able to have so many responsibilities, along with the chance to lay your life down for our country, then you should be able to enjoy a drink or two legally.
A good amount of people under the age of 21 are on my side. Of the recently polled Marist students, at least 51.4% of students agree the drinking age should be lowered to 18, or even lower.
With the right education in high school, drinking at a younger age shouldn’t be an issue. It’s time the law favored young adults, who are already facing big responsibilities and huge decisions in their lives, and gave us freedom to have more fun. Now that’s something I could raise my red solo cup to.
