This petition is deeply personal to me, as I have witnessed the devastating effects of alcoholism on individuals and their families. The story of South African singer Zahara is one that particularly resonates with me. Her lifelong struggle with alcoholism led to her developing liver disease, and tragically, she passed away at just 35 years old.

The current legal drinking age in the United States is 21 years old. However, scientific research has shown that the prefrontal cortex - a part of our brain responsible for key decision-making - does not fully develop until around age 25 (National Institute of Mental Health). This means young adults are making decisions about alcohol consumption without their brains being fully equipped to weigh up pros and cons.

When you are trying to process key nutrients for the body, alcohol greatly impairs this, as the conversion of alcohol into acetylcholine damages the DNA, which generates free radicals, impairs the body to break down key nutrients like Vitamin A and C, and increases estrogen levels.

Furthermore, alcohol plays a significant role in car accidents which are one of the leading causes of death among adolescents and young adults (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). By raising the legal drinking age from 21 to 25, we can ensure that our youth are better equipped mentally to make decisions about alcohol consumption while also potentially reducing car accident fatalities.

When you consume about 100-200 milliliters of alcohol each week, you can be potentially lose up to six whole months of your life, and if you have about 350 milliliters of alcohol each week, a whole five years get chopped down. Each year also about 140,000 people lose their lives from excessive alcohol, or in other words their potential life expectancy shortens by almost 26 years on average(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

I urge you all to sign this petition so we can protect our youth by increasing the legal drinking age from 21 to 25 years old in America.