Opening Statement:

Attention Grabber: Pathos

-Hook your audience pull them towards your claim, relate this issue directly to their lives (series of questions, a
powerful quote, an imagine scenario, etc... ). Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to more than 4,300
deaths of those under 21, in the United States, each year. [1] Imagine being a parent of that child... how would
that make you feel, that your child, still a teenager, passed away from alcohol abuse. Recently, a 14-year old
girl, Takeimi Rao, had been at a sleepover and was found dead in her bedroom, from alcohol poisoning. She and
her three other friends at the sleepover, had been drinking soda mixed with vodka. Her parents were devastated
that their daughter had made such an unpredictable decision like that. Underage drinking has presented to be a
problem amongst many underage drinkers. By keeping the minimal drinking age at 21, underage drinking
fatalities as well as any drinking fatalities will be reduced dramatically. [1].
[1] ("Alcohol and Public Health" [http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/mlda.htm] website by
health professionals and educators).
We need to save our children!
State the Argument: Ethos
- "We are here to debate the argument: Should the minimal legal drinking age be lowered?" (Write as a question.)
State the Claim: Ethos
- "We intend to prove our claim that The minimal drinking age should not be lowered and it should stay at 21."
(State your claim).
State the Grounds: Logos
- "On the grounds that... it reduces traffic accidents and fatalities, it would be plain out medically irresponsible,
and it would give high schoolers and even middle schoolers easier access to alcohol which would not be good."
(State your three grounds).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to more than 4,300 deaths of those under 21, in the United States,
each year. [1] Imagine being a parent of that child... how would that make you feel, that your child, still a teenager, passed
away from alcohol abuse. Recently, a 14-year old girl, Takeimi Rao, had been at a sleepover and was found dead in her
bedroom, from alcohol poisoning. She and her three other friends at the sleepover, had been drinking soda mixed with
vodka. Her parents were devastated that their daughter had made such an unpredictable decision like that. Underage
drinking has presented to be a problem amongst many underage drinkers. By keeping the minimal drinking age at 21,
underage drinking fatalities as well as any drinking fatalities will be reduced dramatically. [1].
[1] ("Alcohol and Public Health" [http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/mlda.htm] website by health
professionals and educators).
We need to save our children!
We are here to debate the argument: Should the minimal legal drinking age be lowered?
We intend to prove our claim that The minimal drinking age should not be lowered and it should stay at 21... on
the grounds that it reduces traffic accidents and fatalities, it would be plain out medically irresponsible, and it would give
high schoolers and even middle schoolers easier access to alcohol which would not be good.

__________________________________________________________________
Argument: Should the drinking age be lowered?
The proposition side states that the drinking age should be lowered. The proposition side is made up of Hannah Still, Zoe
Klett, and Abigail Barrett.
The opposition side (our side) states that the drinking age should not be lowered. The opposition side is made up of Julia
Shoppach, Alyssa Regner, Ashlyn Kentopp and Risha Cherukuri.
________________________________________________________________________
Claim: The drinking age should NOT be lowered.
Ground: MLDA (Minimal Legal Drinking Age) 21 reduces traffic accidents and fatalities.
Warrant: 100 of the 102 analyses (98%) in a 2002 meta-study of the legal drinking age and traffic accidents found higher
legal drinking ages associated with lower rates of traffic accidents.
Backing 1: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that MLDA 21 decreased the
number of fatal traffic accidents for 18- to 20-year-olds by 13% and saved approximately 27,052 lives from 1975-2008.
Conclusion: This shows that by having the minimal drinking age at 21, it will save 13% of 18-20 year-olds who are
underage drinkers. Having the minimal drinking age at 21 has saved almost 30,000 lives from 1975 to 2008.
Imagine how many that would go up to now? Keeping the drinking age at 21 will most-likely continue to save
these lives.
Website link- procon.org: http://drinkingage.procon.org
About ProCon: ProCon.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity. Our purpose is to provide resources for
critical thinking and to educate without bias. We research issues that are controversial and important, and we
present them in a balanced, comprehensive, straightforward, transparent, and primarily pro-con format at no
charge.
Backing 2: From an article titled: "A Lower Age Would be Unsafe" by Laura Dean-Mooney, a MADD National
President. For the past 17 years, Laura has worked steadfastly to change the laws in both Texas and Florida. Now as
National President of the organization, she does similar work in all 50 states. She says: Since the 21 law was widely
enacted, the number of young people killed annually in crashes involving drunk drivers under 21 has been cut in half, from
more than 5,000 individuals in the early 1980s to around 2,000 in 2005. By the end of 2005, the 21 drinking age had
saved nearly 25,000 American livesapproximately 1,000 lives a year.
Conclusion: This shows that the number of people killed in car acciddents have been incredibly decreased and it
has saved several lives. Therefore, by keeping the drinking age at 21, it would save many lives and prevent many
car crashes.
Website link- http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2008/09/08/a-lower-age-would-be-unsafe
Emotional Appeal: This story was taken from an article titled, "Teen Driving Drunk Killed Friend," and was written
by Alan B. Goldberg for an ABC News article. Alan B. Goldberg has previous experience with CBS news and NBC news.
He has education from Indiana University Bloomington, New York University, and The Hebrew University. The ABC
News article that he wrote: Jessica Rasdall and Laura Gorman, 2- 18 year old girls, were both under the influence of
alcohol while driving together. They had previously been at a club drinking and having fun, until a ride in the car. Jessica
Rasdall had taken the driver's seat and within one hour, her friend had been killed in a crash from her friend's driving.
Later when Jessica Rasdall was about 22 years old, she had confessed her crime to more than 15,000 people.
Conclusion: This story shows how these girls were only 18 and because they are not mature enough and not
cautious about the dangers of drinking while driving, someone died. Because she confessed her mistake and was
100% honest about it at age 22, this incident might not have happened. This shows that by having the drinking age
at 21, people can make better decisions than 18 if the drinking age were at 18.
Website link:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/t/story?id=7726721&page=1&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Fsearch%3F
q%3Dyoung%2Bdrinking%2Bwhile%2Bdriving%2Bstories%26go%3D%26qs%3Dn%26form%3DQBRE%26pq%3
Dyoung%2Bdrinking%2Bwhile%2Bdriving%2Bstories%26sc%3D0-31%26sp%3D-
1%26sk%3D%26cvid%3D4e1ce601272b4c6da00cebbbda2a28d6

________________________________________________________________________
Ground: MLDA 21 reduces alcohol consumption.
Warrant: In a 2002 meta-study, 87% of the analyses found higher legal drinking ages associated with lower alcohol
consumption. In 2009, the NHTSA found that the percentage of weekend nighttime drivers with a blood-alcohol
concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher declined from 5.4% in 1986 (two years after the MLDA was raised to 21) to 2.2% in
2007.
Backing 1: James C. Fell is a senior program director at the Alcohol, Policy and Safety Research Center of the Pacific
Institute for Research & Evaluation in Calverton, Md. He says: Back in the 1970s, a number of states lowered the
drinking age from 21 to 18, and we saw an increase in alcohol consumption by youth. When it was raised again in 1984
back to 21, we saw lower consumption of alcohol, and we've kept those low rates.
Conclusion: This shows that when the drinking age is at 18 there are more underage drinkers consiming alcohol
and when the drinking age is at 21, there was a lower consumption of alcohol.
Website link: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/30/health/la-he-drinking-age-20110530
Backing 2: NCCDPHP (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention) supports the nations public health
infrastructure, working with healthcare providers, public health professionals, educators, and decision makers. They
say: Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to more than 4,300 deaths among underage youth, that is, persons less
than 21 years of age, in the United States each year.
Conclusion: This clearly shows that if there are 4,300 deaths from underage drinkers with the drinking age at 21,
then imagine how many deaths would there be with the drinking age at 18?
Website Link: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/mlda.htm
Emotional Appeal: The article, " Coroner: Amy Winehouse Died from too Much Alcohol," was written by the
American Press (AP) which is a non-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast
members. There are 3,700 global news professionals that find information to report in it's articles. In this article, a 27-
year old singer, Amy Winehouse killed herself from drinking too much alcohol in one night. Her blood level showed that
she had gone more than five times over the drunk driving limit (although she wasn't driving). She had drunk several
bottles of vodka the night of her death.
Conclusion: Even though she was over the minimal drinking age, she died from consuming too much alcohol.
Before, I mentioned that 87% of the analyses found higher legal drinking ages associated with lower alcohol
consumption. If the minimal drinking age was kept at 21, then there wouldn't be as many situations as these with
people over 21.
Website link: http://wonderwall.msn.com/music/coroner-amy-winehouse-died-from-too-much-alcohol-
1649650.story

________________________________________________________________________
Ground: MLDA 21 laws reduce the number of underage drinkers.
Warrant: The percentage of underage drinkers has decreased since 1984 when most MLDA 21 laws came into effect.
Backing 1: Studies indicate that when the drinking age is 21, those younger than 21 drink less and continue to drink less
through their early 20s, and that youth who do not drink until they are 21 tend to drink less as adults.
Conclusion: This shows that when the minimal drinking age is at 21, then those younger drink less throughout
their twenties and if they don't drink until 21 (when they're supposed to), then they would drink less as adults.
Website link: http://sites.psu.edu/stoudtrcl24/2012/12/06/progress/ AND
http://drinkingage.procon.org
Backing 2: According to a study, authors William DeJong and Jason Blanchette, researchers at the Boston University
School of Public Health and School of Medicine, MLDA 21 has "served the nation well by reducing alcohol-related traffic
crashes and alcohol consumption among youths while also protecting drinkers from long-term negative outcomes they
might experience in adulthood, including alcohol and other drug dependence, adverse birth outcomes, and suicide and
homicide. The evidence is clear that, absent other policy changes and improved enforcement of the nations alcohol laws,
lowering the legal drinking age would lead to a substantial increase in injuries, deaths, and other negative health-related
consequences."
Conclusion: This clearly shows that if the minimal drinking age was lowered it would lead to more injuries and
deaths because of drinking amongst a younger age group.
Website link: http://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005206un
Emotional Appeal: An article titled, "Underage Drinking, Alcohol Poisoning and Legal Immunity" is written by the
AAPC. The AAPC (American Association Poison Control) has medical experts nurses, pharmacists, doctors, and other
poison specialists, that assist in representing Americas 57 poison control centers and promoting poison safety and
awareness. They say: A teen boy, Brett Finbloom, died from alcohol poisoning at a friends house. He had recently
graduated from high school meaning that he was only about 18 years old. He was at a party with his friends and all of them
underage, were drinking alcohol. Finblooms friends, both underage as well, called 911, informing the operator that
Finbloom did not have a pulse and was not breathing.
Conclusion: This story shows what kinds of things happen to underage drinkers. With the minimal drinking age at
21, the majority of these teens would not be poisoned by alcohol because the number of underage drinkers would
be massively decreased. By age 21, young adults have a much more developed brain and can make these decisions
about overdoing alcohol consumption. Therefore, not as many teens would be killed in these situations.
Website link: http://aapcc.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/underage-drinking-alcohol-poisoning-and-legal-
immunity/

________________________________________________________________________
Counterclaim: The drinking age should be lowered.
Ground: MLDA 21 is not statistically associated with lower rates of suicide, homicide, or vandalism.
Warrant: In a 2002 meta-study of the legal drinking age and health and social problems, 72% of the studies found no
statistically significant relationship despite claims that lowering the MLDA to 18 would increase suicide and criminal
activities by adolescents.
Rebuttal: Although there may be no relationship between lowering the drinking age and the suicide and criminal
activities, just because it increases these activities doesn't mean that it is healthy. Drinking is very dangerous for anyone's
health.
Backing: Josie Edward graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder in
2008. She says: Drinking alcohol in excess can lead to a variety of health problems, including heart disease. The American
Heart Association recommends limiting alcohol consumption to no more than one or two beverages per day.
Conclusion: This shows that even though there may not be a difference in suicide and criminal activities, it still
isn't good for our health. Too much alcohol could cause our health to go downhill and you could end up killing
yourself from having too much alcohol in your system.
Website link: http://www.livestrong.com/article/469905-why-is-alcohol-bad-for-your-heart/