In the United States today many teens have the problem of underage drinking. Whether they do it to look cool or to have fun, it is an enormous problem. In fact, one our four teens state that the would ride with a driver that is intoxicated (“Underage Drinking”). This shows that teenagers and not only irresponsible with alcohol, but also uniformed of the serious consequences. Although the rates of underage drinking have dropped within time, there are still ways to lower these rates more (Klass). With much research and problem solving, I have come up with three different ways to lessen the issue of underage drinking. The three options I focused my research on was changing the way colleges teach, lowering the drinking age, and informing …show more content…
Along with that, sports coaches could have their teams stay late on Friday nights for a team bonding experience or a late night practice to keep the athletes from going to parties (Fennell). These processes are ways to keep the average college student too busy to deal with underage drinking. Out of these few systems, I believe changing the way professors post their information online would create a small change in the amount of partying that college students participate in. Last but not least, there could be many things adults can do to prevent underage kids from binge drinking or drinking in general. If teenagers receive strong messages from their parents that underage drinking is dangerous, then they may think more about the decisions that they make. The more parents allow their children to drink and throw parties at home, the more likely they will also go out of the house and drink as well. If teenagers are well educated on the side effects of underage drinking the percent of underage drinking will decline. In May of this year, a study showed that 1 in 6 highschool students reported that they were binge drinking. That is a crazy amount, and with that number, we can tell that teenages are not well educated on the aftermath that can come with underage drinking (“Underage Drinking”). It would be helpful if parents simply informed the teenagers that if they choose to drink it should not be done excessively.
A serious epidemic is overtaking this country. Underage drinking is spreading like a virus. It is not just teenagers in college that are drinking; there are numerous kids in high school, middle school, and even elementary school! How have we let it get this far? There is no excuse to be oblivious anymore. Underage drinking is right in front of our faces. It is killing our children. The good news is that this is a problem that can be fixed. There is no way of completely eliminating underage drinking, but it can be greatly reduced. With efforts from the government, parents, and the media, we can diminish underage drinking a great deal. We need to start educating our children that alcohol is a dangerous drug. We need to start setting better
Dear Uncle David, I really wish you would stop drinking all the time. I hate to see you throwing up every day. Seeing you drained of energy is frightening. You used to have a smile on your face every time you saw me, now I hardly ever see you smiling and laughing because you're always sick. I don’t understand why you keep drinking since you are always in and out the hospital. You were such an enthusiastic, funny, dramatic, fun person that people need in their life. Your smile lit up the room and now, I only see you moping drunk every time you're up and moving. It’s sickening to hear family gossiping about when you're going to die. I hope that by reading what I have to say will make you realize the problems you have with drinking and how
“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.
Most people would concur that alcohol should not be given to teenagers. Despite the fact that we concede to this essential truth, underage drinking is still a noteworthy issue in our nation. Since adolescents need development and information with regards to liquor, they put themselves, as well as others in incredible danger when they decide to consume. Regardless of the risk, there are individuals out there who believe that the drinking age should be lowered.
Thesis: I think that lowering the drinking age would be a great idea. 18 is a responsible age, and the underage citizens would react to it differently. We wouldn't have to do it illegally and we wouldn't have that rush of sneaking it around. Out of 190 countries, 61% of those have their drinking age to 18. There are only 11 not including the united states, who has their drinking age at 21. Why not change? Our economy would grow and increase by purchasing alcohol. I think if you are able to fight for your country at the age of 18, you should definitely have the freedom of drinking alcohol.
Approximately 2 out of every 3 high school students have drank to the point of getting intoxicated (binge drink), in more than one occasion (Centers for Disease and Control Prevention [CDC], n.d.). Binge drinking has become increasingly common for youth under the minimum legal drinking age, making it increasingly dangerous because of the lack of supervision that young adults have that can consequently, lead to death because of fear of the law (Bonnie & O’Connell, 2004) The drinking age should be lowered to 18 because it is a reasonable societal age limit that can be supervised and used by most of the world and is seen as the age of majority in the United States (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2001).
An obvious outcome of underage drinking is drunk driving, which we know kills thousands every year. But an effect of lowering the drinking age that escapes the minds of many is the easy access that younger teens and tweens will have to alcohol when their senior friends are allowed to partake of alcohol freely. When 18 year olds are still in high school, they can have legal alcohol at their social events and house parties. There’s no doubt that underclassmen will be allowed in to these events to enjoy the privilege of the older peers. The danger in young drinking makes itself clear in a CDC Fact Sheet: “About 2 in 3 high school students who drink do so to the point of intoxication, that is, they binge drink (defined as having five or more drinks in a row), typically on multiple occasions.”
I am Brian Reed, an undergraduate student at the University of West Georgia. I’m writing to you regarding my concerns on underage drinking in the United States and ways that I believe would help prevent such a jeopardizing act. There is a bill that provides assistance to my concerns and reasoning called the “H.R. 1717: Sober truth on preventing underage drinking reauthorization act.” According to Congress, this bill was created to provide for programs and activities with respect to the prevention of underage drinking. I strongly agree with the idea of this bill because the programs will influence citizens under the age of 21 to realize how dangerous drinking alcohol can be, which can possibly bring this illegal act an end.
During our lifetime, alcohol has become a very serious health problem throughout the United States. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol has become the most widely used substance of abuse among America’s youth. Some interesting statistics presented by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in the year 2013, 8.7 million people (ages 12-20) reported that they drank alcohol, (2015). There is no getting around the fact. Young people drink, they are going to drink, and it would be impossible to make them stop drinking. We all know that they are going to partake in this activity. As children grow older, they tend to get a sense of maturity and independence. Seeking new activities and taking risks is what children live for. Underage drinking is one particular risk that attracts many young people. The big major debate currently going on is should the minimum legal drinking age be lowered?
However, at 18 you are generally inexperienced and can cause reckless behavior while drinking. How will it help colleges having more alcohol around? College students already want to drink and making it legal allows them to get sauced whenever. That wouldn't be good for school. But, lowering the legal drinking age allows parents to teach kids what they can handle and when they have reached their limit. It would help colleges because most universities don't report underage drinking unless someone is bluntly acting a fool. Why they don't report it? There are too many people who participate in the act to enforce the 21 drinking age. The law put in place is what drives people to drink excessively. Making a 18 drinking limit allow them to drink in
Almost everyone can agree that alcohol should not be given or allowed to children or young adults under a certain age. Alcohol is a substance that is very dangerous and if you used incorrectly or immaturely the consequences can be great danger to the users or the ones around them. The topic of lowering the drinking age has been in discussion for many decades. “Between 1970 and 1976, 29 states lowered their age for drinking alcohol. The results were catastrophic. Highway deaths among teenagers and young adults skyrocketed. Almost immediately, states began raising the minimum drinking age again.” “In 1984, Congress passed the Uniform Drinking Age Act, which required states to have a minimum drinking age of 21 for all types of alcohol
Underage alcohol drinking can have devastating effects on teenagers. It can affect teens' grades, health and many other things as well. The reasons why teenagers consume alcohol are pretty clear. What aren’t clear are the solutions to eliminating, or at least reducing the number of underage drinkers. It is vital that we do something to at least suppress this problem. By taking action, we can greatly reduce the number of underage drinkers and it could also save not only their lives, but also someone else's life as well. Underage drinking can cause many health problems as well as educational problems in a teen’s life; therefore our country needs to decrease the number of underage drinkers by increasing both the price of alcohol as well as the legal drinking age.
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.
Do you know someone who drinks under the circumstance of being too young? Do they know what causes can come about from such thing? Drinking under the age of what is said on the law is not only illegal but it is what we call underage drinking. Maybe you are going to school and everyone their is telling you that you aren't cool unless you drink. Will you listen to them? Will you drink because you want to be cool? If you are someone who drinks because it is “cool”, then do you feel any “cooler” drinking something you shouldn't be? This is what I believe people should ask themselves if they are drinking too young. Drinking uderage is dreadful and can lead to, drunk driving, other dreadful outcomes, may have you thinking you are “cooler”, a solution needs to come about and as a nation we can find many, and not everyone may be affected, but those who are know why it's unjust!
Being a very big problem to the society and government at large, underage drinking may not be totally eradicated but can be reduced to manageable levels. To do this, a collective approach has to be used in implementing the various recommended prevention measures. The best approach towards reducing adolescent drinking is through numerous strategies which include school-based strategies, family, and community as well as extracurricular strategies (Komro and Toomey 3).