Proposal first draft

In the United States of America turning eighteen is a big deal you’re legally old enough to vote, buy tobacco products, enlist in the military and even get a license to carry a long fire arm like a shot gun. Turning eighteen also gives you the right to legally sign documents on your own without the consent of a parent. Reaching the age of eighteen gives you lots of advantages one of those advantages is not drinking because since 1984 the legal drinking age in the United States of America has been twenty-one but yet it’s ok for you to enlist in the military and possibly die. I think that this is unfair because if you’re old enough to die for country you should be considered old enough to make the choice on if you want to drink at the age of eighteen rather than waiting to the age of twenty- one. Anyone under the age of twenty one is not legally allowed to consume alcohol in the United States which I think makes it more desirable to people under the age of twenty- one for the simple fact that it’s off limits to them. Most the time when something is off limits to someone people tend to do whatever they can to get what there not supposed to have. So by forbidding the consumption of alcohol to people under the age of twenty one is actually making more people want to drink alcohol rather than just be allowed to at the age of eighteen instead of twenty one. By having the legal drinking age set to twenty one people under twenty one are forced to drink in locations that are not as safe a places that are visible to the public, making the people under twenty one more likely to get raped or attacked then someone who is twenty one and can legally drink in a public place such as a bar where there is security to help maintain a safe environment instead of a unknown location where anything can happen. The United States is one of the few countries where you have the right to do almost anything but drink under the age of twenty-one which is somewhat shocking because most other countries such a Europe have the legal drinking age set to eighteen one and our neighbors Canada have the drinking age set to eighteen in most parts (nineteen in the other parts) but not twenty-one like the United States. Some countries like Fiji and Morocco don’t even have a set drinking age. Compared to the United States Europe where the legal drinking age eighteen has fewer alcohol related accidents among teens then the United States. I think this might possibly have something to do with the fact that more teens in Europe at the age of eighteen don’t have to wait to be twenty-one to drink making them less likely to drink and drive. Statistics show that more people die from using tobacco related products then from drinking which I think is unfair since you only have to be eighteen to purchase tobacco products. It is estimated that more than 440,000 deaths each year are directly smoking-associated and that in 2007, an estimated 12,998 people died in alcohol-impaired traffic crashes involving a driver with an illegal blood alcohol content (.08 or greater). I’m no math professor but I’m pretty sure that 12,998 is a much lower number then 440,000 making it seem truly ridiculous that you’re allowed to purchase tobacco products at a lower age then alcohol products. In the United States alone there are 400,000 deaths annually (Mayo Clinic). It is estimated that by the year 2020 10 million people will be dying a year due to use of tobacco related products (WHO Web Site). In the year 2001 in the United States 29,573 people died from getting shot by a fire arm which is legally allowed to be purchased at the age of eighteen. So at the age of eighteen you have the right to by a device that allows you to take someone’s life but you don’t have the right to go down to the liquor store and by something to drink.