When I turned 18, I could legally get married, serve in the military, buy cigarettes, vote, buy lottery tickets and could now be tried in court as an adult for committing a crime. I was a legal adult. So why could I not legally drink? The legal drinking age in the U.S. should be changed to 18 years old.

All 50 U.S. states have the drinking age set at 21 years old. Of course, there are exceptions in some states in regards to drinking at home and being under adult supervision, but overall the law is consistent throughout the country. This drinking age has not stopped teenagers from drinking and some would even say that it has led to worse situations. It pushes underage kids to drink in private and less-controlled environments, which can lead to more dangerous and life-threatening circumstances where there are not any adults present.

22 percent of all students under 21, compared to 18 percent of students over 21, are heavy drinkers, according to professor Ruth C. Engs at Indiana University. This shows that many teenagers want to drink to rebel against authority and simply because they want to be adults and do something that only adults are legally allowed to do.

Our country has one of the highest drinking ages in the world. The only countries that compare to us in the severity of our drinking age are Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Cameroon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Tajikistan, according to NewsWeek.com. Most other countries have the drinking age set at 18 years old for liquor and at 16 years old for beer and wine and even then there is little enforcement of it. However, even with those ages, they still seem to have low incidences of alcohol-related problems. Should that not tell us that America might be doing something wrong with having the drinking age set so high?

Teenage drinking is a very big part of American life and most of the time it is done without supervision. This law is forcing teenagers to hide in private places to drink and this can lead to dangerous situations. People under 21 years old see alcohol as the “forbidden fruit.”

A place that underage drinking is most heavily seen is, of course, in college settings. Half of college students are 21 years old or older, while the other half are younger than 21 years old, which can definitely cause some problems. A lot of students that are under 21 years old can get their 21 year-old friends to buy them alcohol, which is obviously illegal, but it is still done. They also are not allowed to drink at university events that others are allowed to drink at. This causes the underage students to want to rebel and try what they are being kept away from.

I believe that if drinking were made legal for people between the ages of 18 and 21 years old, then drinking will be able to take place in public where it can be supervised by police, security guards and even health workers so that the drinking can be done safely rather than in private environments. There are going to be alcohol problems whether the drinking age is 18 years old or 21 years old and obviously having the age at 21 is not solving the problem at all. Additionally, if the drinking age was 18, colleges could easily regulate alcohol use so that students do not get too intoxicated.

I am not saying this because I am a 20 year-old that just wants to go to the bar every weekend and get drunk. It would be nice for me to be able to order a drink sometimes while I am out to eat with my family or 21-year-old friends, but I cannot because I am not 21 years old yet. I feel like I am just as responsible as most 21 year olds that I know, so my age should not be the deciding factor on whether or not I can legally drink in public.

I do not see the drinking age being lowered anytime soon, but I think that it should be and I hope politicians open their eyes and consider doing this.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and are not representative of The Slate or its staff as a whole.

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