DWI: Drinking While Immature?

Angela Alfano
Staff Writer

At 18 years of age one is legally considered to be an adult. At this age, a person can vote, adopt children, join the military or become a commercial pilot. So why shouldn’t an 18 year old, living in America, be allowed to drink?

The fact that an 18 year old is able to have a say in the potential leader of the United States begs the question: Why can they not have a drink?

When asked for an opinion on lowering the drinking age, freshman Public Relations major, Marisa Kofmehlsaid, said, “I understand why the drinking age was raised because the brain is fully matured at 21. However, the fact that an 18 year old is able to join the military and risk their life, but they cannot buy themselves a drink really bothers me.”

Junior Political Science major, Dan Potenzieri also shared his opinion. “ I think that the drinking age should be brought back down to 18. If you are mature enough to make the decision to join the military and sacrifice your life for this country, then you should also be mature enough to have a beer or two,” he said.

Daniel Cox is the Director and Station Manager of WCWP, LIU Post’s campus radio station. He recalled when he attended Post and the drinking age was 18. Cox looked back on when he met with his professors at the bar on campus (yes there was a bar on campus at one point in time) and talked about class and assignments over a few drinks.

Cox said, “It wasn’t considered a strange encounter at the time because everyone was of age and it’s not like anyone was getting drunk. It was just a casual meet- ing with a professor to discuss class that day.”

Personally, I have a major issue with the drinking age being 21. Why is an 18-year-old legally considered an adult and given so much responsibility yet at the same time, not trusted enough to drink a beer? I think that the age should be lowered because of the maturity level factor; there is not always a difference between 21 and 18, especially among college students.

Also, there are public places where 18 year olds and others who are older are able to mingle where alcoholic drinks are pres- ent and available. For example, around college schools, there are clubs known as “college bars” where the ages are 21 to drink and 18 to party. If an 18 year old wants to drink, they can certainly get their hands on one.