Why would anyone in their right mind think it’s a good idea to reduce the legal drinking age in Vermont to 18?It’s unimaginable that there are actually legislators in favor of passing a bill to do this. The only votes that seem to be logically in favor of a lower drinking age are those who are under 21, and their motive is obvious.

If you can legally drink, why would you care about the legal age being reduced? We have enough problems in this state, country, and world with alcohol as it is. By putting the influence of “the creature” behind younger authority, one can’t possibly expect the result to lead to anything less than crisis and regret.

Everyday people legally and illegally intoxicated put their own lives and others at risk out of simple disregard for their common man. If we open the right to drink to another three generations, that number will easily double. With the current drinking age of 21, we already see plenty of poor examples of control and responsibility being displayed by those who are old enough to drink.

The classic argument that those in favor of lowering the drinking age pull out is that if you’re old enough to serve your country you’re old enough to be served alcohol. While this is very logical reasoning, the sensible answer is not to reduce the drinking age, but rather to raise the enlistment age.

Why reduce the age a person can take one risk to the age that they can take another?

It makes more sense, since enlisting in such a risky and considerable decision, to give young minds another couple of years to develop and decide if the armed services are really what they would like to apply themselves to.

This being the strongest argument for reducing the legal drinking age, it leaves this author with a lack of dispute. It doesn’t appear that there is any ethical reason why any state would go out of its way to fight for a bill that puts such a dangerous poison into the hands of our inexperienced leaders of tomorrow.

Studies have proven that the earlier our bodies begin to use alcohol or drugs, the more likely they are to become addicted. Alcoholism is a disease that the world has long been infected with. Someone who has been infected is trapped and it can take years upon years, for the infection to be healed, if at all. Do we really want to put more people through this suffering?

My father always said to me “Do what you want, you will anyways,” and you know what? He couldn’t have been more right. Adolescents are going to experience with alcohol one way or the other. Making it legal for them to do so at a younger age won’t reduce the number of overdoses, or auto accidents. It seems obvious that all it will do is provide more opportunity to cultivate them.