I had visited Canada this Year in the August of 2018, I spent a whole month there from the 4-24th and my name is Elise. I enjoyed the Canada 18 Y/old Drinking law, Cause not only had I got my first drink of Alchohol, But I was responsible with it. I got a little woozy, But I had my friends help me get to bed and I managed just fine from there.

I know we don't have to be exactly like Canada or the UK of sorts, But placing a drinking law of the age of 21 sounds a little unfair to me, and to you guys who will probably sign this petition.

Raising the drinking age to 21 has been largely ineffective in terms of curbing alcohol abuse among youths. According to a 2006 report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, underage drinking accounted for a whopping 17.5 percent of consumer spending for alcohol in the U.S.

At this point it’s apparent that teenagers are going to find a way to drink regardless of the drinking age. Lowering the drinking age would eliminate the motivation to drink for the sake of being rebellious and breaking the law, and it would help normalize drinking as something done responsibly in moderation.

The drinking age of 21 has exacerbated the problem of binge drinking among youths in the U.S. Binge drinking is much more prevalent in the U.S. than it is in other countries across the world, with lower legal drinking ages.

In most European countries, moderate alcohol consumption is viewed as a normal social lubricant. Lowering the drinking age in the U.S. would promote this much healthier and more progressive attitude toward drinking among young people and reduce the prevalence of underage binge drinking.

Granted, due to the close proximity of European countries and the open borders that facilitate quick travel throughout the continent, traffic accidents and fatalities, including those related to drinking, naturally occur less frequently than they do in the U.S.

The culture surrounding alcohol use in Europe still generates more positive attitudes among young people toward drinking than the stigmas created by America’s drinking culture.

I don’t realistically expect Washington, or any other state for that matter, to lower the drinking age anytime soon. But in the event that the threat of financial punishment by the federal government goes away, voters in Washington and other states should follow the standard set by European countries and consider lowering the drinking age if they really want to effectively combat alcohol abuse and binge drinking among underage Americans.