Underage Teenage Drinking

Underage drinking alcohol contributes to the death of approximately 5,000 people every year the violence, injuries, aggressive behavior and deaths that can result from underage drinking. Drinking alcohol among teens, college students and adolescents is a major health problem in the United States, and it is a public concern. As a result, the community is affected by the loss of young people lives, lost productivity and significant health care costs. Thus, drinking alcohol should be banned on young people.

The article, “Alcohol can rewire the teenage brain,” starts by stating that more than 4,750 American kids aged 15 and younger, said they took their first drink of alcohol already. Kids who start drinking before the age of 15 are more likely to become alcoholics because they get addicted to the drug. The article also states that they are more likely to start binge drinking. A study conducted by Lorena Siqueira a pediatrician at the Florida International University and Nicklaus Children’s hospital in Miami, reported that, “When kids drink, they tend to do heavy drinking,” and that, “Their bodies are not ready to handle that kind of alcohol.” Teens think that alcohol will help them feel happier and better, but that is not true. Teens also drink

“’ Were seeing kids coming in with blood alcohol see levels in the mid-.3s, even .4, which four to five times the legal limit for driving. That’s the level at which 50% of people die,”’ says Dr. Mary Claire O’ Brien, an emergency medicine physician and associate professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Underage drinking has become an issue in young teens. Teens are drinking large amounts of alcohol in short periods of time. The effects of alcohol in adolescents are much more life threating then an adult. In the article “The Underage Drinking “, Emily Listfield acknowledges that binge drinking is common in adolescents, it causes long term effects, physical injury and death.

Episode 4 "Underage Drinking; A National Concern" of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia addresses underage drinking through politically incorrect satire while still focusing on the seriousness of the subject matter. It is widely known and accepted that alcohol abuse by teenagers is not only a crime; it is also a sorrowful situation when it involves ruining lives and it can even result in death. The cast of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia presents a new and obviously demented view point to the subject. The friends portrayed in the show understand teenage drinking is unacceptable and in the opening scenes of this particular episode the cast shares some personal youthful experiences while sitting together in the

“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.

Alcoholism and alcohol abuse is a huge problem and portrays many risks, one of the risks being the major health issues that come along with excessive drinking. Adolescence is the transition between childhood and adulthood. During this time, significant changes occur in the body, including rapid hormonal alterations and the formation of new networks in the brain. Teens or young

An average of 88,000 people die from alcohol related deaths each year and nearly 5,000 of those deaths and 189,000 emergency room visits are due to underage drinkers (“National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism”). In 1984, when The National Minimum Drinking Act was passed, the drinking age was raised from age 18 to age 21. Even though the drinking age had only been raised a total of three years, it brought room for mental growth in the people that would then have to wait to be able to legally drink. Because of The National Minimum Drinking Act, fatalities and injuries lowered substantially in the following years creating a safer environment for everyone, especially those under the influence of alcohol. Even though alcohol is advertised to young, underage adults as a way to have fun, make friends or even relieve emotional pain, it is a killer and a serious threat to those that are not mentally ready to handle the effects it can have on the human brain. Allowing the drinking age

Consuming alcohol at 18 years of age can interfere with the development of the young adult’s brain and studies show “physical changes in the brain and evidence of impaired problem solving and other cognitive functioning”. This results in influencing the child’s ability to reach their full educational potential. An article from Oct 2015 ‘15 Shots of Vodka Killed Our Daughter’ by Andrea Todd explains the death of 17 year-old Shelby Allen and is just one example of the influence alcohol has on young adults. Shelby was at a party where she and her 18 year old friends had decided to take shots. Her friends state that they wanted to see how many shots it would take for them to pass out. Eventually 15 shots later, Shelby’s body was unable to comprehend the toxicity of the alcohol and had died. This article is just one of the many stories where young adults are clearly unaware of the dangers of alcohol and its alarming consequences. Through surveying different age groups of societies we were able to identify that young adults where greatly more unaware of the health problems associated with consuming alcohol rather than adults. This alone indicates that older adults of 21 years and over have better knowledge on the dangers of alcohol and its impacts. The need to increase the drinking age to 21 years of age is indicated through health studies,

Teens that do the underage drinking can have many health problems. Health problems that can be caused by underage drinking is Death, serious injuries, impaired judgment, increased risk for physical and sexual assault, brain development problems. All of these health problems are serious, and they aren’t thought about by teens before they have a drink. (Underage) Impaired judgments can be considered irresponsible drinking. Significant increase were also found for other variables: “cutting class after drinking” jumped from 9% to almost 12%; “missing class because of hangover” went from 26% to 28%; “getting lower grades because of drinking” rose from 5% to 7% and “been in a fight after drinking” increased from 12% to 17%; these are examples of irresponsible behavior. (Dr. Ruth)

Students in states with a minimum legal drinking age of 18 had a 13 times greater chance of dropping out of high school compared to states with a minimum legal drinking age of 21 (CDC). More than ninety percent of the alcohol consumed by those under the age of 21 are consumed by binge drinkers (CDC). There were 189,000 emergency department visits by teens under the age of 21 for injuries and other conditions linked with alcohol consumption (CDC). The list of facts and statistics goes on and on about underage drinking, although in neighboring countries with a lower legal drinking age theses statistics are way higher. Although some believe that the United States drinking age should be lowered to 18 when one is legally considered an adult, in

At the age of 16 American citizens are given the responsibility to drive. At the age of 18

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.

Lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 will forestall underage binge drinking, as well as terrible injuries or deaths that result from such conduct. Keeping the drinking age at such a high age, unintentionally, is driving to more cases of binge drinking because it has become a social norm among this age group, however by lowering the drinking age to 18, binge drinking will decline, because it will demystify the drunken experience therefore viewed as a normal social practice.

Underage drinking is a very eminent problem for Americans today. Some may not know that the human brain continues to develop until the age of twenty-five. Underage drinking can weaken neurological development, which could cause minors to make bad decisions, have memory loss, slower thought processes, and even acquire irreversible brain damage. Drinking when your body and mind are not fully developed can leave damaging effects on a person’s social abilities, neurological abilities, and overall health.

Underage drinking is becoming more of a noticeable problem in society, not only with high school students, but also with younger generations. Drinking is all over the television, the radio, and talked about in schools, public places, etc. Alcohol advertisements are more and more appealing to younger generations. If our youth is educated at a younger age, if school policies were stricter, and if clubs and bars cracked down on underage drinking the problem would not be as serious.