I believe that the drinking age should be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen. If a person is old enough to vote, then he or she is mature enough to decide who should govern the country, and therefore should have the privilege of being able to drink alcohol in moderation. The other premise is that when we are eighteen we are able to dedicate our lives to serving our country, but we are not yet able to sit down with our friends and family and consume alcohol legally. Making drinking illegal until age twenty-one only makes it more desirable, which leads young adults to be irresponsible about drinking. It is more common for young adults to drink excessively in the United States than in most countries that allow underage drinking. " by. Doug Bandow (Balkin and Szumski 44). The study conducted by CASA is full of inaccurate statistics and was done only to promote the group's message. Parents should teach teens how to drink responsibly, to reduce problems linked to binge eating among adolescents (Balkin and Szumski 44), president of CASA, Joseph Califano, states that minors account for over a quarter of alcohol consumption between the ages of twelve and twenty would drink two alcoholic drinks a day. The survey that CASA was viewing is flawed; Thirty-eight percent of the respondents were in the twelve to twenty age group, but that age group only constitutes fifteen percent of the U.S. population. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimated that only 11.4% of alcohol users… middle of paper… In communities Jewish people have an extremely low rate of alcohol dependence. Although they commonly participate in alcohol consumption at an early age, such as the circumcision celebration, which is held eight days after their birth. The NIAAA findings are correct for the United States only; they do not apply to most of the world. The NIAAA used biased evidence, so their findings are unexplained and false (Balkin and Szumski 56). Works Cited Balkin, Karen F. and Bonnie Szumski. Opposing views of alcohol. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2004. 17, 21, 44. Bauer, Joy. "Is wine good for you?" Health today. (2011): n. page. Network. September 18, 2011. "North Carolina." The Secular Council. The Council of the Century, 2009. Web. 18 September 2011. .