Why do people only want to change the drinking age from 21 to 18, when there are other activities that have age restrictions such as getting married at 18, driving at 16 years and 35 to be a president? Alcohol plays an important role in today's society, becoming a controversial issue among teenagers. Alcohol is a mind-altering chemical that is potentially more dangerous than any other drug and can be very destructive. In recent years, many people are trying to lower the drinking age without knowing the negative effects of alcohol and how lowering the drinking age would harm our communities. Underage drinking is a serious problem for adolescents in the United States. In 1984, the federal government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which required all states to raise the drinking age to 21. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Law 21 lowered the number of crashes and saved 23,733 lives. Underage drinking is more likely to kill young people than all illicit drugs combined In the article "There is no benefit to lowering the drinking age" by Robert Voas attempts to persuade the reader that lowering the drinking age can be dangerous for teenagers. I agree with Voas' statement because we should not lower the drinking age to 18 because underage drinking harms brain development, leads to binge drinking and increases fatalities. First of all, lowering the drinking age will harm adolescent brain development. Many teenagers at 18 are still developing their brains and are unable to make the right decisions. The human brain is like a sponge, absorbing all the knowledge we learn. Furthermore; alcohol interferes with our brain and has long term effects on the inte...... middle of paper ...... was responsible for the deaths of the women and the boy. His irresponsibility had killed 2 people and cost them their lives. Therefore I believe that there are other cases involving teenagers and their behaviors and this explains that we should not lower the age for drinking alcohol. In short, the minimum drinking age in the United States should remain twenty-one. In today's youth, binge drinking is increasing dramatically and they are engaging in behaviors they would not have done if they had not been drinking. Teenagers' brains do not develop at the age of 18, so it is really difficult for them to make the right decision, especially when they are drunk. Furthermore, we are more likely to get into a fatal accident if we lower the drinking age. I suggest not lowering the drinking age because it will ultimately help our community and save many lives. Drinking isn't worth killing yourself.