18 and 18

So in debate my teacher (who looks like Tina Fey) decided to do this thing where we have hot topic issues, and places in the room with signs like Agree, Strongly Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree--- and we had to come up with three points to support how we felt about the issue.

One was that the U.S. government should lower the drinking age to 18.

And I picked Agree.

However, it's not because I'm advocating for under aged drinking, but it's because I really think it makes more sense to do so.

First off, in the U.S. the age at which you can buy cigarettes legally is 18, and as we all know smoking causes health problems.  There are cancer risks, and you can potentially harm a child while pregnant and smoking.

Drinking is the same way.  There are many issues that come with subsequent alcohol abuse including a form of liver and pancreatic cancer, and it is also harmful to children while in the womb.  

Many argue that the pre-frontal cortex isn't fully developed until the age of 21, which is why that is the drinking age, however we still allow individuals to buy harmful things such as the aforementioned cigarettes.

Another thing is, by lowering the drinking age to 18 there would be less teen, and young adult deaths due to drunk driving.  Let's be honest here.  One of the many reasons why teenagers drink is because it's illegal.  Teens find it cool because they're defying the law, and act secretly to hide and smuggle their booze.

By lowering the age, the cool-ness in drinking underage would be gone.

To me, it doesn't make sense to not be consistent with things like age restrictions.  Stuff like this just seems to go hand in hand.  Just make it 18/18 for both or 21/21.