America needs to lower the drinking ageIn other countries in the world if you are under 21 you can drink alcohol, some countries they don't even have an age limit, but in America you have to be 21 to buy alcohol. You can go to war and die for your country at 18, you can even vote, buy cigarettes, but you can't buy alcohol. One of the main reasons why the drinking age was set to 21 was that teenagers got into car accidents after getting drunk. I'm not saying drunk driving should be legal. What I'm saying is that there should be more government programs to educate and prevent people from driving while intoxicated. More and more people under the age of 21 suffer from alcohol. "A survey released by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA) found that by the time Texas teens reach their senior year of high school, more than 80 percent of teens admit to having some experience with alcohol The same study found that secondary school students say it is easy to get beer, wine or liquor." (qtd. in Westbrook) Texas is a zero-tolerance state for underage drinking, has some of the harshest penalties for underage drinking, and if 80% of teens in Texas has had experience with alcohol, this tells me that campaigns against underage drinking and zero tolerance programs don't work. Teens will drink alcohol at some point in their lives. So instead of spending all this money to stop teens from drinking, perhaps you should invest in programs or educate these teens about alcohol so they can make an informed decision about drinking. There are now programs that educate people under the age of 21 about alcohol. These programs are implemented at universities across the country and address alcohol consumption choices. “At the University of Virginia they are taking a more old-fashioned approach to educating college students about alcohol use. They are taking two-and-a-half-hour courses in classrooms called “Choices.” They boast High Results from this program: a total 75% of participants said they wanted to reduce alcohol consumption in the future, while 85% indicated they had spoken to a friend." (Altamirano). If these programs have high success rates, I think they should be incorporated into high schools as well.