The age limit for drinking alcohol Age limit for drinking alcohol IA HOOK A-1. Everyone knows that it is illegal to consume alcohol until the age of 21 in the United States. Many people agree with this legal restriction. Some would even say it should be increased. However, the legal drinking age sometimes causes more problems than it prevents. B. I am here today to convince you that the age limit for drinking alcohol should be lowered. C. Why? Because we care. We care about people who abuse alcohol and thereby harm themselves, their families and the innocent people around them. II. A. First of all it is necessary to question this law. Why is 21 the "magic" age that makes a person intelligent and mature enough to consume alcohol? Surely some adults abuse alcohol, and some teenagers in this room would be perfectly capable of drinking responsibly. Why not 18 or 35 or 40? At 18, people are considered adults. It may seem unfair to many observers to allow young people between the ages of 18 and 20 to marry, have children, own cars, houses, pay taxes, vote, fly airplanes, risk their lives in the military, own firearms, and be financially and socially independent, and who are not yet legally prohibited from drinking a glass of wine in a restaurant, or even a glass of champagne at their own wedding. I think it's a problem to have an upper limit on the age of maturity. B. Teenagers view drinks as something glamorous. It is seen as an adult activity; and teenagers want to become adults as soon as possible. In order to get a drink, the teen will carry fake IDs, creating more problems, or sneak drinks from their parents' liquor cabinet. This type of underhanded attitude does not encourage responsible drinking. Also, when the opportunity to drink arises there is a sort of “Let's make up for lost time” attitude. The result is alcohol binge. C. Teen drinking is a long-standing problem in American culture, which the minimum drinking age has done little to stop. American society does not teach young people limits or responsibility. Instead, they seem to take it for granted that, once they reach the legal age of twenty-one, those “children” will somehow know their limits and be able to control themselves with alcohol and other similar substances. III. A. The minimum age for drinking alcohol should be lowered to 16. As far as I know, five (six) developed nations in Europe have a minimum drinking age of 16 (Austria, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain-Germany-only for beer and wine)).