There are numerous 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 alcohol consumption. The legal drinking age in many states is twenty-one. The purpose of this law is to keep minors out of harm's way: away from drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and brain injury before it is fully developed. The government supports the belief that people are not ready or responsible enough around alcohol until this age. However, various professors and researchers are discovering ways to disprove this belief. These people think that lowering the drinking age to eighteen would positively affect our country. Not only do minors support this idea, but there are also numerous people and organizations that support the idea of ​​lowering the drinking age. The current law on alcohol consumption 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 instigated by alcohol poisoning. This problem could be solved by lowering the minimum age for drinking alcohol to eighteen, with a drinking licence. “Either we are a nation of lawbreakers, or this is a bad law,” says John McCardell, author for Greenhaven Press (McCardell, 2012). . What McCardell is referring to is the law that prohibits the consumption of alcohol by anyone 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 Choose Responsibly group (Baldouf, 2007). This group is a non-profit organization that travels the country sharing McCardell's proposed drinking age...... middle of document ......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, M (2004). Prohibition. Retrieved May 2014 from CREDORreference: http://www.credoreference.com.bakerezproxy.palnet.info/entry/rutgersnj/prohibitionUnderage Drinking. (2005). Retrieved 2014 from Alcohol News: http://www.alcoholnews.org/Underage%20drinking.htmlWhy 21? (2011). Retrieved May 2014 from MADD: http://www.madd.org/underage-drinking/why21/