Teen Alcohol : The Dangers Of Underage Teens

Every 51 minutes in America, someone is killed in a drunk driving crash. A dangerous issue facing society today is the problem of teen drinking and driving. Currently an approximate of 10,076 people die in drunk driving crashes per year. If positive progress to ceasing this act does not happen, teens will continue to drink and drive putting everybody on the road at risk. Teens who drink and drive put everyone on the road at risk, causing serious crashes that could be preventable.

Underage drinking is very common in the United States. Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug in the United States, even more so than illicit drugs (Marijuana, Cocaine, etc…) and tobacco. “In 2012 the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 24% of youth aged 12 to 20 years drink alcohol and 15% reported binge drinking. In 2013, the Monitoring the Future Survey reported that 28% of 8th graders and 68%

Today, alcohol use continues to be regarded by many people, as a normal part of

According to Andrew Herman, “Each year, 14,000 die from drinking too much. 600,000 are victims of alcohol related physical assault and 17,000 are a result of drunken driving deaths, many being innocent bystanders” (470). These massive numbers bring about an important realization: alcohol is a huge issue in America today. Although the problem is evident in Americans of all ages, the biggest issue is present in young adults and teens. In fact, teens begin to feel the effects of alcohol twice as fast as adults and are more likely to participate in “binge-drinking” (Sullivan 473). The problem is evident, but the solution may be simple. Although opponents argue lowering the drinking age could make alcohol available to some teens not

“With such compelling information, the question is why haven 't we been able to do more to prevent the crisis of underage drinking? The answer is: rising the age to 25” is what Lucille Roybal-Allard once said, a U.S. Representative for serving in Congress since 1993. This statement has brought many to speculate of issues and debates. This expression opened the eyes of American people that often struggled to make this truth into a reality. It might be easy to believe that age laws lowered the deaths of the underage but there are still signs of its dreadful company in many pieces of American life. Families who choose to educate their children about underage drinking and driving, seem to have a higher chance of getting through with the child. These underage teens can face jail or death when they give drinking a chance and even attempt to drive, having a sexual intercourse or just plain out doing something out of the teen’s element.

“Every year in the U.S., roughly 5,000 people under the age of 21 die from an alcohol-related incident including car crashes, homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning and other related injuries” ( “11 Facts About Alcohol Abuse”). That is 5,000 more teens or young adults that could be saved from this plague in this society (11 Facts About Alcohol Abuse). Underage drinking and alcoholism is a huge problem in the United States, and as a society need to make a change with how everyone sees this problem. Adults and young teens take this topic too lightly, and it should not be taken lightly because of how many deaths there have been from poor decision making. There are many programs or events that could help this problem by fundraising, however people think this is not a very important problem. Underage Drinking and Alcoholism is a huge problem in the United States because it causes major health issues that can be very costly, personal life problems that can lead to more problems later in life, and major risks that have no benefit, but can put someone else’s life in danger.

Roughly 11 million young Americans consume alcohol, and an upsetting number of them drink way too much, for the purpose of my research, described as guzzling five or more drinks in a row, one or more times in a two-week period.

In the article “Underage Drinking” the author highlights the effects and dangers of consuming alcohol before it is legal. While it is true that “In most countries around the world where alcohol is legal, the legal drinking age is eighteen”, the author states that alcohol can still have more negative effects on those under the age of twenty one than adults. The author provides many statistics, such as “research showed a correlation between the lowered drinking age and increased car accidents” to back up these statements. It is clear that the author’s main goal in the article is to inform the public about the negative outcomes of underage drinking, but it seems that their ulterior motive is to persuade against it. This is obvious, as the author shows no positives or even opinions from the opposing side.

Underage drinking among adolescents is becoming a problem in the nation 's youth. The legal drinking age was decided in 1984 for 21 years of age in every state (Wechsler and Nelson 986-992). Although there was a movement proposed to reduce the legal drinking age to 18 in 2008. The movement was proposed from college presidents and universities, which discussed their ideas of the drinking age. Later signing the Amethyst Initiative, leading encouraging debates back and forth trying to lower the legal drinking age. The Amethyst Initiative did not go through however because there were important ramifications toward health and safety issues and required serious participation from the health department (Wechsler and Nelson 986-992). Thus leaving the drinking age at 21 years old. With the legal drinking age at 21 years old, it can lead to teens and young adults to seek alcohol anyway possible to satisfy their needs and entertainment. Adolescents today believe they can get away easily with drinking. They forget underage drinking can cause excessive binge drinking, leading to alcoholism later in life, advertising ads, and long term health effects to their bodies. The popular question among young adults: Why be 21 when teens can get alcohol before hand?

Alcoholism is a disease, like cancer. Alcoholism is not a lifestyle choice for alcoholics. It is a disease, like cancer, where intervention, treatment, and follow up are needed to recover. As with cancer, remission and a cure cannot be guaranteed. Alcohol causes a wide range of negative effects in the lives of alcoholics and those who know and love them. Insurance companies need to be aware of this disease and provide coverage and ongoing support for treatment. We need to find a way for those in need to more easily access the help they need and make it easier to work with insurance for coverage. As a society, we need to more to prevent the marketing of alcohol to our youth that are underage. By looking at how our youth are targeted by alcohol marketing and working to reduce this, maybe we can help to reduce the number of young people that start drinking and then become alcoholics.

First off, alcohol addiction and abuse among teenagers today is a bigger problem than ever before. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the teens are so exposed to the culture of this day and age, leading them to where they have easy access to alcohol. For example, their parents may already be alcoholics, and it's merely a few bad decisions later which could cause the child to have a few drinks and cloud their judgement. This is a big problem because their young bodies have never encountered anything like alcohol before, so in turn, the body does not know how to process it, and therefore leads to their downfall. A publication released by the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAA) suggests that by age 18, an astounding 60% of US teens would have had at least one drink. Moreover, according to the NIAA, youth between the ages of 12 and 20 will often binge drink as well.

Teenagers are America’s greatest natural resource, and they need to be protected from some of the evils that lurk in the world. A subject that needs special attention is the abuse of alcohol by teens. Statistics show that there is a problem currently between teens and alcohol. There are many causes of teenage drinking and effects that prove that drinking is an important issue that needs to be dealt with to preserve American teenagers. Teenage drinking will become worse of a problem if it continues unchecked on its current path to destruction. Alcohol abuse among teenagers in the United States is a plague that is destroying the structure of American society.

Alcohol dependence is known to be the most severe form of alcohol abuse. A person becomes so dependent on alcohol consumption that he/she loses sight of all the other important things going on around him/her. Family matters and social responsibilities become secondary worries to his/her primary concern for existence, which is drinking (Stephens, 2007). Nearly fourteen million Americans are somewhat dependent on alcohol. Alcohol dependence is more prominent in men, and young adults ages 18-29 (Stephens, 2007). According to a study done by Saitz “85,000 deaths, along with substantial disability from medical and psychiatric consequences, injuries and “secondhand” effects (ex: motor vehicle crashes) are attributed to the use of alcohol” (Saitz, 2005).

The alcoholic beverage has remained an established element to society’s social world and has grown into a way of living. As alcohol continues to flourish in its prevalence among citizens of the United States, so does the concept of alcohol addiction. A person becomes addicted to alcohol when they “drink excessively and develops a dependence that results in noticeable mental disturbance, or an interference with bodily and mental health, their interpersonal relations, and their smooth social and economic functioning” (Calahan, 1970, pp. 3). In 2009, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that about 52% of Americans used alcohol at least once within 30 days of their survey. As the percentage of Americans who consume alcohol

Teenage alcohol abuse is one of the major problems that affect academic performance, cause health problems and is responsible for the death of teenage drivers and sometime their passengers. Many teens drink because they think it is cool and do not understand the dangers of drinking alcohol. In 2008 a survey on the students views on alcohol was conducted in the Atlanta Public School System of 4,241 students surveyed results showed 74% of sixth graders felt there was a health risk while 25% felt there was no health risk; 81% of eighth graders felt there was a health risk, while 19% felt there was none; 82% of tenth graders felt there was a health risk, while 18% felt there was none, and 84% of twelve graders felt there was a health risk,