The Epidemic Of Underage Drinking

Every year, thousands of minors die from the use of alcohol. Many young adults abuse the drinking age policy. It is put in effect for substantial reasons, which contribute in making the safest environment for all. Drinking underage is not only illegal, but also damages one’s health tremendously. Furthermore, drinking in large amounts is extremely dangerous and can cause detrimental things to occur. There have been numerous attempts to create a law to lower the drinking age, but none have gone through. In contrast to what some people may say, the drinking age should not be lowered because it would decrease maturity, promote poor behavior, and damage reputations.

Drinking among teenagers is prone to cause long term damages in their life. At the adolescent stage, teenagers brain are still developing up until the they are in the 20’s. It is a fact that alcohol causes brain damages to anyone who consumes it but because of this occurrence in adolescent’s body,they are more affected by this. According to Saner in the article Health: Drunk young things: Teenage drinkers don 't just risk making fools of

“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 been occurring since laws were set in place for age qualifications, but it is better serving American society by continuing it because we can’t accept lowering the national age? Ruth C. Engs, a professor for Applied Health Sciences at Indiana University, finds that the mandated drinking age should be lowered to 18 or 19. If young adults were legally allowed to drink in controlled environments, then responsible drinking methods could be taught, resulting in mature behavior when consuming alcohol (Engs, 1). By keeping the drinking age so high, students or young adults are forced to hide drinking and more often than not, turn to binge drinking, an unhealthy, addictive, and extremely dangerous form of drinking that often results in blackouts and alcohol poisoning. Engs states, “For example, 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18% over 21 years of age are heavy drinkers.” This is not the only issue that arises from underage drinking. Newsweek writer, Jeffrey A. Tucker, sees that this law is only causing “over-indulgence, anti-social behavior, disrespect for the law, secrecy and sneaking and a massive diversion of human energy.” To diminish these issues, people are turning towards the examples of other nations that have managed to maintain low drinking age laws, with low risk results. In other countries, alcohol is seen as a cultural norm and are taught at young age how to responsibly consume. However, it is treated the opposite in America, instead, it is seen as how Wil Fulton from the Huffington Post sees it, “forbidden fruit”. Fulton states through a claim made by the World Health Organization, that while Europeans tend to consume more alcohol, Americans still die from more alcohol-related causes. In efforts to change this law and hopefully encourage safe and responsible drinking, many are turning towards the Amethyst Initiative, a movement created by John

Is it worth it to let teens to ruin their whole future by allowing them to start drinking at a younger age? Annually about 5,000 youth under age 21 die from motor vehicle, other unintentional injuries, and homicides and suicides that involve underage drinking.(“Underage Drinking”) It is a current debate on whether or not the minimum drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18 from 21. Though, the reasons why the drinking age should be 21, clearly triumph the reasons for the opposing side of minimum legal drinking age 18. When a young boy named Brian started drinking as a teenager, it resulted into increasing issues into adulthood. According to Brian, he started to drink with friends in middle school. As his drinking led on, his grades became progressively worse and he became less involved with school activities. When his drinking continued into adulthood, Brian notes that he became depressed and wanted to die. ("I Started Drinking as a Teenager"). Underage drinking is a widespread offense that results in serious or fatal physical, neurological, and legal consequences, the minimum drinking age of 21 years old is an effective way to keep these consequences from occurring and lets young adults have a safe and successful future.

The importance of having the proper in depth education about alcohol is often overlooked. As a result, underage drinkers do not learn about having limits when it comes to drinking. Underage drinkers often drink until intoxication because they think that being wasted is the goal. Through research linking to the pattern of underage drinkers , they "drink on fewer occasions,but when they drink they are more likely to binge drink" (Henry Nelson). Many adolescents from ages 16-20 will find themselves in situations where they experience life and learn from their mistakes. In time, they become more tolerant and by the time they are actually 21, underage drinkers are able to withstand more alcohol and know how much they can drink before being totally intoxicated and even blackout. But not having the proper education on how to drink responsibly is only the first half of the problem. Many people 16 and up have permits and licenses so after these long sessions of drinking they make horrible decisions such as driving. Teaching adolescents will result in less incidents of drinking and driving. Having a more in depth learning curriculum about alcohol instead

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?

Drinking when you’re a teenager may affect how you deal with your emotions. When moving into adulthood a teenager is going through many phases and issues. Without your proper emotions it would be hard to understand what you are going through. Also, a teenager’s immune system is not prepared for the effects of alcohol. If a teen waits for later when their immune system is developed they will handle alcohol better whereas, if they drink during teenage years their minds will not be focused and could affect their daily life. Media and peer pressure is also forcing teenagers to drink. Majority of teenage drinkers are pressured if we increase the drinking age to 21 teenagers will not be pressurized and they will be mature enough to make their own decisions. According to pbskids.org “Adults have lived longer, and so they are supposed to be better at making decisions and judgments, like whether one has had too much to drink. Young people may be more influenced by alcohol advertising, and might be quicker to let the media influence their decisions about drinking.” (It's My Life. Body. Alcohol. Your Questions | PBS Kids GO! (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/body/alcohol/article8.html). As shown by PBS Kids adults have set themselves for a healthier future by not drinking at a young age. Overall, drinking at a young age can have terrible long-term effects and it

Underage drinking is on the rise despite harsher laws to stop it. Itappears to have always been around despite whether the legal age to drink is 18 or 21. One of the main issues with underage drinking is that the brain in the teenager is not fully developed in the region of judgment and decision making. Because of this teens are known for deciding to do the wrong thing. That often includes drinking alcohol or experimenting with illegal drugs. many teenagers do not just have onedrink, they usually participate in binge drinking. This can continue long into adulthood and soon develop into a full blown alcohol problem.

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

The problem is underage drinking and the solution is to produce mass media campaigns urging the youth not to drink at a young age. There’s a worldwide issue of underage drinking. In the article, The Problem of Underage Drinking and What Parents Can Do, by Heidi Stevens, Stevens explains that alcohol has a special appeal to the youth because it is “a risk that attracts many developing adolescents and teens” (Stevens 3). Many teens want to prove that they’re independent and be popular amongst their peers and they accomplish this by drinking at a young age. As a result, many teens can become alcohol dependent, which means they can’t control their drinking.

Underage drinking has become a big problem in our society today. Many young teens die daily due to drinking alcohol, because these teens are abusing the age policy of drinking. Underage drinking is a problem today, because it is causing teens to act out in a certain way. This is a problem because teens drinking cause not only health problems, but causes rapes and car accidents. Underage drinking occur during lack of supervision, and sometimes occur while the adults are around. Underage drinking could be solved if schools have alcohol classes, parents become more alert, and all the media stops promoting.

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.

Every problem has a beginning, where the domino effect starts. In most cases people get started drinking not because they like it, but because it is illegal and it gives them a chance to rebel. The so-called “rebel” becomes bored of drinking alone and eventually seeks “company” when they are drinking. The only catch is that the “rebel” can not be the only one drinking so the “company” has to drink. This is where the problem with peer pressure and teenage drinking begins and the first domino starts the chain reaction. There are two types of peer pressure. There is direct peer pressure where a subject’s peers actually force him into having a drink. There is also indirect peer pressure where the subject enters a setting and his peers are drinking so he decides to have a drink to fit in with the rest of his peers (Articles-Teenage Drinking 2). Surveys show that alcohol abuse is related to teenage activities such as going on dates and going to parties (Teenage Alcohol Misuse 2).

Many people look at alcoholics in disgust, as if they are the lowest part of mankind. That they shouldn’t exist because they are screwups, but most of the drunks weren’t born that way. Most drunks were exposed to it at a very young age, so they had they felt compelled to become just like what they had experienced. For example, my friend was exposed to alcohol at a very young age. No one taught him the rights and wrongs of alcohol, so he became a drunk and had almost ruined his future before he got help. There are many causes as to how alcohol can affect young people such as; environmentally, socially and genetically.