Sunday, October 31, 2010

Legal Age of Alcohol Consumption in the United States

Another example of an age-defined law is the drinking age, which is nationally recognized as 21. The second part of this law states that individuals 18 years or older may serve alcohol. This law is a lot less controversial than most age-related issues because of many reasons including health, safety, and legal responsibilities. The following pictures are images that show potential health issues caused by alcohol abuse.

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/146-152.htm
http://www.breakingthecycles.com/blog/2009/02/ 


Such brain damage can happen at any age but can be particularly detrimental when the brain is still developing at a younger age. The law is not designed to inhibit fun or exclude younger people; it is a health guideline because younger individuals tend to be more rebellious when it comes to authority and fail to recognize the harmful effects of alcohol on their growing bodies. Alcohol is a serious mind-altering depressant that kills innocent people daily in car wrecks and other alcohol related instances. The age 21 might even seem too young to some because of the maturity level and capacity of responsibility at that stage in life. This law has yet to affect me because my age is so far from 21. If someone my age was caught consuming or possessing alcohol, there would definitely be legal consequences but the public only aims to establish that there is so much fun to be had without being under the influence of alcohol.


The second aspect of the law states that individuals over 18 may serve alcohol in restaurants and bars. This, however, has affected my life because it limited a large amount of jobs because of my age. The reason the age is 18 is because of liability reasons. An individual that is 18 can be punished in court for alcohol serving mistakes such as serving to minors and the restaurant will recover whereas if a minor was to serve alcohol, the restaurant as a whole would be to blame ruining income, reputation, and even suspension of their alcohol license. This law has been altered in the Constitution under Amendment 21 and was a reoccurring issue in the development of the country, but now seems to take a steady course that has generally been successful. It defines a person by ensuring that only certain capable individuals may partake in such activities as consuming alcohol legally, regardless of purpose. The basic definition changes when a person turns 21 from not being legally able to drink or purchase alcohol, to being able to consume as desired, which seems to be of great value in the modern culture. 

1 comment:

  1. I know a time comes when addicts feel guilty a lot. When they will know that how long does alcohol stay in your urine then they will feel guilty more that what are they doing with them.

    ReplyDelete