When I turn 18 I want to have the right to drink. Currently the drinking age is 21. I think that it should be lowered to 18. Lowering the drinking age to 18 is important because if it is lowered to 18 then the men and women serving their country or paying taxes and voting can have a drink and it will be legal. 18-year-olds are also given harsher punishments when caught with alcohol. Also, they can face charges for having alcohol, it because they had acess to alcohol.

My first reason for lowering the drinking age is that there are unfair charges for teens who drink. For example, when we are 18 and are caught with alcohol we get a MIP (Minor in possession) charge and maybe have to go to court. But if we are a minor than we just get a warning and are turned over to our parents. Even worse, as 18-year-old adults we may also get a ticket. It is harder on legal 18-year-old adults when caught with alcoholic substance.

My second reason is that minors already have access to alcohol. isn’t going to change much if they lower it to 18 .For example, at the moment the cops are spending their time patrolling the streets for “underage drinkers” but they mostly only charge 18-year-olds that have alcohol. So instead of hunting down murders and rapists and robbers they are hunting down legal adults that should be allowed the right to destress with a beer or two. Than, they are being brought up on charges for underage drinking when they are paying the state taxes that pay the cops to arrest them for drinking. It is so beyond messed up they are being treated so unfairly.

Some people object to the concept of 18 year olds drinking, because they say that 18-year-olds are way too immature to have a legal right to get and drink alcohol. A response to this argument is that if young people are of legal age to serve our country and those same young people have the authority to kill another human being in the time of war, then isn’t the government being hypocritical about them being immature? Why isn’t it OK to let them have alcohol? If these young 18-year-olds are mature enough to fight for our country and to pay taxes and to vote, get married, and have a mortgage for their homes, why are we denying these young soldiers the right to have a drink?
In conclusion, the law needs to change. And say that 18-year-olds shouldhave the right to drink, at least in the safety of there home or a controlled environment, not a bar or club. 18 year olds should be able to drink just as they can purchase cigarettes, have a job and legally be a soldier and fight for our country. I know that my friends who are 18 occasionally have a beer and they do not drink and drive and they stay at one place, being responsible. It does not seem right to make 18-year-olds suffer for the mistakes of the minors.