There are many alcohol-related problems in the world today, including alcoholism, drunk driving and alcohol poisoning leading to death. Many of these problems involve minors and are linked to underage drinking. The legal drinking age in many states is twenty-one. The goal of this law is to keep minors out of harm's way: away from drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and brain damage before they are fully developed. The government supports the idea that people are not ready or responsible enough about alcohol before this age. However, various professors and researchers are discovering ways to disprove this belief. These people believe that lowering the legal drinking age to eighteen would have a positive influence on our country. Not only do minors support this idea, but many people and organizations also support the idea of ​​lowering the drinking age. The current drinking law is counterproductive in our society because it is not effective in eliminating underage drinking and leads to dangerous situations such as drunk driving and deaths caused by alcohol. This problem could be solved by lowering the minimum drinking age to eighteen, with a drinking license. “Either we are a nation of lawbreakers or this is bad law,” says John McCardell, author for Greenhaven Press (McCardell, 2012). . What McCardell is referring to is the law prohibiting the consumption of alcohol by persons under the age of twenty-one in the United States. John McCardell is the former president of Middlebury College and is also the founder of the group Choose Responsibly (Baldouf, 2007). This group is a non-profit organization that travels the country to share McCardell's drinking age proposal...... middle of paper ......m http://www .indiana.edu/~engs/articles/cqoped .htmlFennell, R. (2007, December). Drinking is fun. Retrieved May 2014 from Academic OneFile: http://go.galegroup.com.bakerezproxy.palnet.info/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DA-McCardell, J. (2012). The drinking age should be lowered. (G. Press, producer) Retrieved May 2014 from the Gale Virtual Reference Library: http://go.galegroup.com.bakerezproxy.palnet.info/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRLRotunda , Mr. (2004). Prohibition. Retrieved May 2014 from CREDORreference: http://www.credoreference.com.bakerezproxy.palnet.info/entry/rutgersnj/prohibitionUnderage Drinking. (2005). Accessed in 2014 on Alcohol News: http://www.alcoholnews.org/Underage%20drinking.htmlWhy 21? (2011). Accessed May 2014 on MADD: http://www.madd.org/underage-drinking/why21/