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Many people consider 18-year-olds to be grown adults. At 18, you can be tried as an adult by law, buy legal drugs, vote, serve in the military and do some sort of labor to support oneself. But given all these rights, an 18-year-old cannot legally consume or buy alcohol.

Many young men and women can enlist in the military to serve and sacrifice their lives at 18. They are trained to withstand some of the most dangerous scenarios and to not fear death. One must wonder why 18-year-olds cannot at least have a beer in public or in some social events. It is not fair for those young men and women that are expected to do things that are far worse than consuming an alcoholic beverage.

[People] fear that lowering the drinking age to 18 would increase the amount of fatalities or deaths due to driving while intoxicated. But why not then lower the drinking age and raise the driving age to 21? In some countries, people start drinking at a younger age. Yet they do not have as [many] accidents or deaths due to intoxicated drivers like we do. Maybe it is that they have more control or that they are well prepared or educated on the issue.

If 18 is the legal age when you are considered an adult, why can you not drink a beer? The amount of taxes one pays at 18 is the same amount of one who is 21.

The drinking age should become 18. It is not fair that one has to wait an extra three years when considered an adult at 18 to be able to have alcohol.

Mauricio Garcia, Bladensburg