The United States is one of four countries with the legal drinking age of 21.  This is the highest age requirement for the legal consumption of alcohol worldwide, with most other countries permitting drinking at 18, and some as low as 16.

America should modernize its laws and lower the legal drinking age at 18.

Adults who can join the military, get tattoos, marry, and vote should be able to drink alcohol. If people are trusted to drive a car at 16 or purchase a gun at 18, they should be trusted to drink responsibly at 18.

By lowering the age of such restrictions, the amount of teen binge drinking and other negative effects of alcohol consumption would decrease.

Canada has adopted a legal drinking age of 19, and studies have shown that Canadian students drank less heavily than their American counterparts.  In Canada, only 42 percent of students drank heavily compared to 54 percent of American students, according to alcholnews.org, a website operated by George Mason University.

Despite the difference in legal drinking ages, both Canada and America had nearly identical drunk driving fatality rates. They also share similar laws about the legal age of driving. The lowered drinking age didn’t affect drunk driving deaths.

As alcohol becomes less of a taboo, so does the desire to drink it. Once it’s legal, drinking at a younger age can be done in safer environments.

It might open the dialogue between parents and their children about drinking responsibly. Teens would no longer have to lie to their parents about going to a party, and could make more responsible when deciding not to drink and drive.

All European and many South and Central American countries have a legal drinking age of 18 or younger, and the culture is more relaxed when it comes to alcohol.

In Germany, where I lived for a few months the drinking age was 16 for beer and 18 for spirits. Most teens there didn’t drink to excess or get any ailment worse than a hangover the next day.

This was largely the result the German media not romanticizing hardcore binge drinking, and because parents and their teens didn’t think having a drink was so monumental.

In countries with a lower drinking age, young people can go to bars and clubs and dance and drink responsibly. They have a place to go on Friday nights, and they’re allowed to go because their parents know their children are safe, and won’t be driving under the influence.

Most teens take taxis or feel comfortable enough calling their parents when they cannot be responsible drivers.

Students in Germany and other European countries grow up in households where they can talk about drinking and have a few sips in a safe environment, and are therefore more responsible drinkers than many of the young people who drink in the states.

Germany does have the third highest number of alcoholic liver disease deaths per capita, according to nationmaster.com, but this is not necessarily the effect of a lower drinking age.

America was higher on the list, coming in at second, and Canada ranked 10th. The country rankings had little to do with their legal drinking ages. In fact, on every list relating to alcoholism, including liters of alcohol consumed per capita, Canada ranked lower than America.

American pop culture is fixated on alcohol. Think Ke$ha, Jersey Shore, and even tabloids like The National Inquirer. It’s celebrated by television shows and celebrities, and is therefore a recreation emulated by the youth and looked down upon by older generations.

Perhaps a change in our laws will bring about a change in our perspective toward alcohol. It has long been a part of our culture, but has not been embraced in a way that is most beneficial to the people of our nation.

By lowering the drinking age, we will give the right to consume alcohol to responsible young adults. Though some education about responsibility and safety may need to be accompanied with the new freedom, the point still holds.

All American adults deserve the right to drink alcohol.