Toulmin Argument Outline: Lowering the Drinking Age to 18

Introduction: Lowering the Drinking Age

 Recently, a great debate among lawmakers is whether the drinking age should be lowered.  There are many people, especially eighteen-year old members of society, who believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18.  On the other hand there are supporters for keeping the legal drinking age at 21.

·      Claim: The drinking age should definitely be lowered from 21 to 18 because it will prevent underage binge drinking in dangerous, uncontrolled, life-endangering environments. 

Warrant: Legally, people are considered adults at the age of 18, thus they should be able to make choices, knowing they will be held responsible for poor decisions. 

·      Backing:

o   Can rent apartment and live on own, legally responsible for that apartment

o   Can be arrested and charged as an adult; criminal record follows the person wherever she or he goes

o   Decide to join the army

o   Decide to get a full time or part time job, pay taxes

o   Vote for the state and government officials

o   Can serve alcohol and become a licensed bar tender

Grounds:

·      Research shows higher traffic accidents/fatalities as a result of excessive drinking occur in the first few years of drinking, regardless of age (ProCon.org)

·      Lowering the drinking age would curb young adult’s desire to rebel by drinking which usually results in binge-drinkingàbecome a normal activity

·      Reduce number of underage drinkers who do not seek medical care for alcohol-related injuries because they would not fear legal consequences

Rebuttals:

·      The drinking age should not be lowered because the frontal lobes of the brain (the part of the brain where decision making occurs) is not fully developed until mid 20s, and alcohol can interfere with the development of that part of the brain

o   Although the brain isn’t fully developed, we still can make major life decisions while we are aware of the most of the consequences of that decision.  At 18 this area of brain is almost fully developed, it is not perfect

Qualifier: The drinking age should be lowered to 18 in all 50 states because it will prevent a greater amount of cases of underage binge drinking in life-endangering environments.

Conclusion: Overall, lawmakers should aim to lower the drinking age so that the frequency of binge drinking and harmful events as a result of such drinking are reduced.