Teenage Alcohol Abuse

In order to safely lower drinking age, the federal government should instill more training courses over alcohol safety into the criteria in our nation's high schools. Along with the idea of providing more alcohol based education in the public school system, if students were to complete certain courses they should be eligible to apply for a drinker’s ID. In order to obtain a drinker's ID, 18 year old adults still in high school would be required to take courses such the chemistry of alcohol, the physical impacts to one's body as a result of alcohol abuse, and the consequences because of driving under the influence and possible addiction (“The Debate On Lowering The Drinking Age”). The chief of police in the college town of Boulder, Colorado, states that “The abuse of alcohol and the overconsumption of alcohol and DUI driving. Those are the areas we've gotta focus our efforts. Not on chasing kids around trying to give 'em a ticket for having a cup of beer in their hand" (“The Debate On Lowering The Drinking Age”). Even though the age restriction would be lifted, a drinker's ID may be revoked if tampered with. For example, if a young adult with a drinker’s ID drove while under the influence or bought alcohol for a minor then his ID would become invalid and ineligible to be reclaimed. Efforts by the United States government to put effective, drinker’s ID programs into action would stimulate teenagers to stop revolting against law enforcement and comply

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.

Despite the current legal drinking age being 21, underage drinkers have a virtually unlimited supply to alcohol because parents, siblings, and friends that are of age can easily supply them with booze; 26 percent of underage drinkers receive alcohol from parents or family members. In fact, 40 percent of young adults receive alcoholic beverages from friends and family (2008, Edgar Snyder). “When asked how easy it would be to get alcohol, most 8th, 10th, and 12th graders said ‘fairly easy’ or ‘very easy’” (2008, Edgar Snyder).

Young teens all get a bad rep when it comes to drinking alcohol. Especially college students that are considered “binge drinkers”. When in reality a nation wide survey of students at 168 colleges and university’s found some interesting things about the underage corrupt youth. 93% of all students have never received a lower grade in a class because of drinking too much. 98% of all college students say that they have never gotten into trouble from an administrator from excessive drinking. While the media continually gives the under twenty one community a bad rep, in reality they are continually practicing safe drinking habits and in some cases not drinking at all. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse by the Institute

Secondly, by legalize drinking age to eighteen; the government can easily control alcohol abuse. A study was conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to see whether underage people can buy beer and liquor through online websites. They made 8 people, aged from 18-20, to lie about their age when ordering via alcoholic drinks selling website. 100 orders were made and then, they counted the number of successful orders. A shocking result was revealed: “45 of the orders were successfully made and received. Only 28 were rejected because the person making the order was found to be underage. The remaining orders did not go through because of technical glitches or because no one was home when delivery attempts were made.” The result of this experiment has shown the reality of how easy it

“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.

There has been an ongoing controversy in the United States on whether the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen like most of the world or if it should stay at twenty-one. Underage drinking has been a major controversial issue for years, yet why is it not under control? Teenagers are continuing to buy alcohol with fake identification cards, drink, get into bars, and drink illegally. As a teen I have proof that these things are going on not only in college but in high school as well. There are a lot of factors that come together to why the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen; the most obvious reason is too many people are drinking before they are twenty-one. Liquor stores, bars, and clubs all want to make money and if they can get away with selling to underage teens then they will. A study done by the Academic Search Premier agrees that, ?By now it is obvious that the law has not succeeded in preventing the under-21 group from drinking? (Michael Smith 1).

Alcohol is a drink that possesses a seducing effect to tempt many citizens. Adults worldwide consume countless cans of beers, wine, vodkas, and other alcohol beverages. However, its luring quality has been secretly shared to minors, resulting to a problem called Underage Drinking. This situation has existed for quite some time. In the past, underage drinking was considered a miniscule crime, and wasn’t strictly restrained or monitored. As we continued to remain oblivious, numbers of adolescent drinkers have gradually increased as they used the tolerant rules to their advantage. Now, the problem has become significantly noticeable, and we can no longer neglect it. High school, even middle school students have been found with

Adolescents feel the need to hide from their peers when participating in underage drinking. “Like basements, fraternity houses and locked dorm rooms, where kids go to hide from the law and from adults, including parents, who might teach them some moderation” (The Debate On). Adolescents do not care about whether or not they are breaking the law. They will continue to break the law behind closed doors, even though they know it is wrong. Adolescents participate in the majority of the underage drinking. “The 21 year-old drinking age has pushed young adult and adolescent drinking behind closed doors and away from supervision by parents, residence life staff, and other adults authority figures. 90% of the alcohol consumption by individuals between 18-20 years old is done while engaging in binge drinking behavior” (Lowering the Drinking). There should not be an age restriction on the legal age of drinking; individuals will participate in it not matter what their age is. Due to the fact that 90% of alcohol consumption is done by individuals between the ages of 18-20, the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 years of age. Not only has the age restriction on drinking alcohol caused unsafe drinking activities to take place, but it has also increased the amount of times that the law has been

Nearly 25 percent of teens drink alcohol because they think it is fun; however the problems it may bring are not so fun (Hyde 22). There over six times more teen deaths per year from alcohol than any other drug (O’Malley 30). Alcohol affects the body of teens as well as all of the developmental processes. A major issue of teens drinking is that it increases the chance of becoming an alcoholic in the future; which leads to lowered self-control, impaired judgment, and lowered inhibition (Heath 12). Alcohol can completely change the life of a teen from the time they start drinking till death. Alcohol affects so many aspects of a person’s life and once it does, it is so hard to get life back to normal. Alcohol effects teens by harming them

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.

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.

Teenage binge drinking (consumption of five or more alcohol drinks in a row) has grown to be a serious problem in the United States. A report in 2009 from the Surgeon General’s office show alcohol consumption by teens start as early as 11 years of age for boys and 13 years of age for girls (Grant & Dawson, 1997). In the youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Report (2007), data results showed that over three million teenagers in grades 6 through 12 are alcoholics, and several million teens have serious health issues due to drinking. Further research conducted by the Harvard School of Public health (2006) show a direct correlation of automobile accidents, alcohol poisoning, poor academic performance. violence and

Teenagers face many difficult decisions in their lives and have many people in their lives that influence them. One of the major groups that influence teens is their peer group. “Since teenagers are not yet comfortable with themselves, they have a strong need to be accepted by their peers. And to be accepted, they feel they have to be just like their peers” (Ruth Maxwell, p. 24). From Maxwell we learn that teenagers will use alcohol to be accepted by a group. As age progresses the number of alcohol users progress 73 percent of kids that are from the ages of 16-18 are drinkers. In addition, around 90 percent of high school seniors have experienced alcohol at least once in their life.