Why can’t I drink? I AM 18.




Most people under 21 want to drink at an early age. Why? Because most of the people around them (peers, friends, family) drink and think that it’s cool to drink. I personally think that we shouldn’t change the drinking age, even with all the teen peer pressure.
Most teenagers drink because of peer pressure. For example, my friend went to a party and she was forced to drink because her friend kept telling her, “Drink this or we won’t be friends anymore.” The reality is that most teens just want to act like they are cool, they submit to peer pressure, or these same teens believe that drinking relieves stress.

One reason for not having the drinking age is that it can endanger the lives of teens. 5,000 teens die of alcohol related deaths every year. In addition, 45% of fatalities in crash involving drinking drivers under the age of 21. Just one drink sometimes kills people. What if one of your family members died because of someone else’s drinking? It is up to you to make the choice whether or not you want to save that person in your life. You can make the choice not to drink.

My second reason that, 18-years-olds should not have the right to have the freedom to drink is that most teenagers are not mature enough to have a beer in their hands. I think they aren’t mature enough because most teens would drink and drive home. After parties, teens take friends home, but they get into car crashes because of their lack of focus on their driving. Most of the time the driver is alive, but the rest of the people in the car die. Statistics show that when teens under the age of 21 start drinking there is a high chance of them growing up with a drinking addiction.

An opposing reason is that a lot of people under the age of 21 years old drink, and some adults believe that 18 year olds are mature enough to drink. The 18-year-olds get drunk and don’t even know what’s going on. I know that most teens drink because their parents let them, or the parents do not even know and don’t follow what their teens are doing. Would we get more chances of people dying because of alcohol related accidents? One of the people in my family kept drinking every night, but he needed to stop because of his high blood pressure and his inability to drive with a clear head. Most teens the age of 16-17 years old die from car crashes from drinking and driving.

In conclusion, the drinking age of 21 years old should be left alone because a lot of people die as a result of alcohol under the age of 21 years old. In addition it creates health problems and car crashes. There is a reason why the United States set the drinking age to 21, and I am willing to wait until then to have a drink.