Alcoholism In High Schools

Even though the drinking age is 21 there is still a problem with underage drinkers. When teens get their hands on the alcohol they don’t understand the dangers of it. Therefore, they are careless and feel as if they are invisible and no one can stop them. Luckily, rates of adolescent alcohol use have fallen since the 1980s, but the

The use of alcoholic beverages is very popular, especially with under-aged teenagers. They often get surrounded with the wrong friends, parties, or older people such as college students and begin to drink without earning information about the

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

“According to the CDC, about 90% of all teen alcohol consumption occurs in the form of Binge Drinking, which experts say peaks at the age of nineteen.” (qtd by Listfield). Binge Drinking is the consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. The author, Emily Listfield, defines that the standard alcohol consumption over a two hour period is considered to be four beers for women and five beers for men. This has become a great distraction for college students nationwide and a major dilemma on college campuses. Nearly two hundred thousand students visit emergency rooms each year due to the abuse of alcohol, and more than one thousand seven hundred students die. In the article “ The Underage Drinking Epidemic”, Listfield identifies the problems that underage drinking can cause, the dangers that could happen, and four solutions on what parents can do to keep their kids from binge drinking.

Research has proven that those under the age of twenty one are more likely to be heavy or binge drinkers and more specifically, twenty two percent of all students under the age of twenty one are binge drinkers. There are many beliefs on what is to blame for the irresponsible drinking habits of these teenagers. One popular belief is that because they’re not drinking with other adults or experienced drinkers they are not being guided into the proper direction to being responsible drinkers. However, the main reason is the lack of education on the topic. D.A.R.E. ® is a program executed through local Police Stations that does a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program for a large array of age groups. The program teaches the students about the decisions they have to make in the future and the harms of drugs and alcohol and they teach students in the elementary, middle, and high schools all across the nation. The problem with this program is that they only present their education program once through the course of every student’s public school experience.

Today, in the United States, alcohol is for many teenagers like opening Pandora’s Box, and “it ranks as the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States” (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse). Therefore, it is a very serious issue and is not that easy to act

However, there’s more than enough facts to prove that statistically, underage drinking is a growing problem among us. Adolescents drink less frequently than adults, but in opposition, youths also consume larger amounts at a time. There are several different consequences resulting from drinking alcohol while underage, and social, neurological, and health repercussions are just three out of numerous effects. The hazards of underage drinking can only grow from here if there aren’t more steps taken to take control of the

“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.

Underage drinking has become an immense problem in the U.S. There are many reasons that lead kids under the age of twenty-one to drink. CNN states that “ Only a sip early on in life could be a problem later on in life” (CNN News). This quote states that having that one drink as an underage drinker won't just affect you then, but it will affect your life later on. Our country has come to realize that we have a problem with teenage alcoholism; schools inform their students about this problem, the news talks about tragic events that have happened involving teenagers under the influence of alcohol, there is even movies that have to do with underage drinking. However, kids today choose to make the wrong decisions and put their

Alcoholism is a growing problem in the United States. It can, and oftentimes does, result in illnesses and deaths. “Alcohol is the world’s third largest risk factor for disease and contributes to 4 [percent] of the global burden of disease” (Marshall, 2014). In relation to alcoholism, specifically adolescent alcoholism is a growing concern in the United States. The age at which young people are starting to experiment with alcohol is younger than ever. Dr. Don Macdonald explains that this may most likely be due to the fact that it is legal for the majority of the population. Therefore, adolescents are able to access and get a hold of alcohol more easily than they can other drugs – such as marijuana, heroin, cocaine, etc.

At parties, teenagers have an average of 5 or more beers in one night. In the United States teenage drinking has become a major problem, with about 3.3 million teens as problem drinkers. “1/4 of all 7th through 12th graders admit to drinking at least once a week”. About 40% of 12th graders said they had one episode of heavy drinking in the past two weeks (Bender50).

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.

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%

Alcohol has been severely damaging young individuals health both mentally and physically. Even though alcohol can be harmful at any age it is especially dangerous for teens as their brains are still developing and cannot cope with alcohol the same way as an adult can. When consumed

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.