The Pivot Points Of Alcohol Consumption Control

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The Pivot Points Of Alcohol Consumption Control Essay, Research Paper For thousands of years alcohol has been regarded by society as a temporary escape from reality and the tensions of everyday life. People use alcohol to reduce stress, to relax, and to enjoy a good evening. This should be the real purpose of alcohol drinking. This is the way in which alcohol should be looked upon. There should be no reason for alcohol drinking to be looked upon as negative action. Drinking alcohol however, is in fact regarded as a negative action by society and the government. This is not because of the action drinking alcohol itself but actually because of the abuse people undertake with such an action. Alcohol reduces the ability of a human being to undergo the basic and every day thought

processes, in such a way impeding a person under the influence of alcohol to engage in regular and everyday events. Arguably, the problem of alcohol drinking counts for one of the largest threats to human life in the world. This is due to the high number of fatalities occurring from alcohol related murders, fights, and most of all- traffic accidents. Alcohol abuse impairs a human?s ability to drive a vehicle and consequently creates simple grounds for death from a car collision. In the United States alone, drinking and driving accidents account for the number one cause of death among all age groups, mainly however, young adults and late teenagers. Youth in the United States is suffering from a high number of fatalities and injuries caused from falls, burns, crashes, drowning,

violence, suicide, and poisoning- where the highest percentage of these accidents are related to alcohol. Due to the fact that alcohol abuse is such a high cause for morbidity and injury, governments and societies of countries all over the world concentrate on different techniques and methods in which to decrease these regrettable incidents. The problem is however, alcohol cannot be completely abolished. Drinking alcohol has formed such a large part of life and society that it is too late for a complete elimination. The only thing that can be done is to find ways in which to decrease its consumption. As far as decreasing drinking abuse in general, there are two main controlling points: education and the legal drinking age. Most countries have different drinking ages, most ranging

from 18 to 21. The United States has a drinking age of 21 but certainly, in juxtaposition to other countries, does not have the least alcohol consumption per capita. The best things that governments and societies can use to decrease alcohol consumption are these two controlling points mentioned above (Wood 47). Drinking age, in a large part is correlated to maturity. When a person is believed to be mature, this person can be said to have the ability to take on privileges and responsibilities only a mature person can handle. One of these is the drinking of alcohol. Therefore, the best age for the legal privilege for drinking alcohol is that where an average person is said to be mature- 18 years of age. The United States has been trying to eliminate alcohol abuse ever since the

1850?s when some of the states declared a law of complete abolishment for alcohol. Because of the highly negative results which this law provided, the law had to be eliminated. Once again in 1920, the United States declared complete abolishment but this time for the whole nation. This produced public demonstrations, economic failure, and most importantly, drug consumption went up dramatically. Most people stopped drinking alcohol but referred to even worse addictive drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. Finally, this law had to be eliminated and the drinking age remained 18 until 1984 when the drinking age was declared to be 21. So far, over 15 years have gone by and the results do not seem to be very positive. A question that many people explore is that of why 21? The government