Alcohol consumption is an issue within Australian society, with youth binge drinking over the past decade creating economic costs. The government has implemented measures to address this issue. One measure is the alcopops tax, which has experienced moderate success but also limitations. Alternative measures may more effectively reduce youth alcohol consumption, such as setting a floor price and increasing the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA). Overall, the government can use various policies to reduce youth binge drinking. Australian youth binge drinking has resulted in various economic costs. Figure 1 indicates similar rates of minors engaging in weekly high-risk drinking as individuals over 25. Furthermore, risky drinking habits are substantially …show more content…
These include the National Binge Drinking Campaign (Department of Health, 2008), a zero-alcohol policy for learner and provisional drivers, and the prohibition of supplying alcohol to minors (Gordon, Howard & Jones 2014). The alcopops tax aims to reduce alcopops consumption, thus targeting youth binge drinkers as many "prefer [alcopops] over other alcoholic beverages" (Digiusto & Doran, 2011, para.2). This is evidenced by Figure 3, which indicates that high-risk youth drinkers are more likely to consume alcopops than older individuals. Therefore, the government has implemented various policies to reduce youth binge drinking, including the alcopops …show more content…
Economic efficiency exists when economic surplus, and thus the net benefit to society, is maximised. However, producers generally "make decisions based on their own private interests" (Department of Treasury, 2010, para.2). Therefore, economic inefficiency occurs when a negative externality results in a difference between private production costs and the social cost. The market supply curve (S1) in Figure 4 represents the private costs alcopops producers must bear. The second supply curve (S2) reflects the social cost of alcopops, which is the sum of private production costs and previously outlined economic costs. As Figure 4’s yellow triangle indicates, deadweight loss occurs at S1; the net benefit to society is not maximised as marginal costs exceed marginal benefits. Clearly economic inefficiency is undesirable. The government can correct this issue using a variety of methods, such as implementing a
Teenage drinking has become a big problem around the world the studies have shown between seventy to eighty percent of every teen has had an alcoholic beverage. (ClayPool 2) That is about half of the students in a public school. 1.9 million teens from the day they turned twelve to the age of twenty are considered heavy drinkers. (Well-connected 21) But only twelve out of fifteen actually have a problem drinking alcoholic beverages. (Goodwin 63) Many teens die in traffic accidents each day from the age sixteen to nineteen. There has been around 2,700 teens in the United States killed and almost 321,000 were treated for injuries suffered by motor-vehicle crashes, but then were released to go home. The cost to repair the damages of an alcohol-related accident is estimated to be around one-thousand, five- hundred all the way up to one-hundred, forty-eight billion dollars. ("Teenage" 64) But alcohol-related crashes also cost American taxpayers one-hundred billion dollars not just the driver. ("Drinking") Days of the week with the highest deat...
Getting Serious About Eradicating Binge Drinking is an informative article by Henry Wechsler. Wechsler has worked with the College Alcohol study since its creation in 1992, and he also lectures at the School of Public Health at Harvard. In his article, Weschler discusses the prominent trend of binge drinking on college campuses and how to solve the widespread problem. Binge drinking is a term used to describe the act drinking alcoholic beverages with the intention of becoming intoxicated over a short period of time.
According to Center for Disease Control and Protection, about 4,700 people under age twenty one die from injuries involving underage drinking every year. Illegal alcohol consumption has been a major problem with high school students around the nation. Lowering the drinking age from twenty one would result in major consequences for America’s adolescents. By lowering the drinking age, alcohol would be more accessible to those who choose to participate in underage drinking. The desire to drink for teens and young adults between the ages of fourteen and twenty can be caused by peer pressure or an act of rebellion. One beer might not seem like a big deal at the time, but it could lead to a life of addiction and alcoholism.
Binge drinking is an individual and public issue that poses an increasing concern on the physical, social and economic aspects of the health of Australians. For many people alcohol can bring much pleasure, joy and societal amusement, however when people drink in excess, or binge drink, the costs to health and the community can potentially be devastating. The definition of binge drinking is not widely agreed upon, however a commonly accepted description is the consumption of 5 or more standard drinks on any single occasion, and often modified to 4 drinks or more for women (Naimi et al., 2003). Osteopaths, as primary health care practitioners, must have useful knowledge and tools in assisting patients who cope with the consequences of binge drinking.
For decades, certain people have been contemplating on how to go about the issue of underage drinking; people of the government, parents, and other individuals concerned in global affairs. The problem is, the issue of underage drinking and the nationwide ineffectiveness of the drinking age law of twenty-one isn't debated and discussed as much and as aggressively as it should be. And the main components of discussion ought to be the matter of binge drinking among teenagers and college students, drinking issues and statistics in foreign countries, and finally, possible solutions for this problem. The main point is that the states of our country can only attempt to enforce the law rather than try approaching the problem in any other way. So for that reason, states should be allowed to figure out and experiment on possible ways to solve this matter on their own without government interference.
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 mature enough to handle it, lowering the drinking age actually teaches responsibility and safety in young adults, maintains consistency in age laws, and diminishes temptation.
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).
Martinez, Julia A., Miguel A. Munoz Garcia, and Kenneth J. Sher. “A New Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA)? Some Findings to Inform the Debate.” Addictive Behaviors 34.4 (2009): 407-10. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
The purpose of having an MLDA is to prevent underage consumption of alcohol, but the current age has been proven to have little effect on the matter. Teenagers have many ways of obtaining alcoholic beverages such as using fake identification cards and getting an older friend or family member to buy it for them. The methods used to purchase alcohol have been successful; teenagers account for twenty-two and a half billion dollars of consumer spending for alcohol in the United States.” ("Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?"). The thrill of breaking the law and being defiant is thrilling to young adults, so raising the age or restricting them from a right they should have is not helping the problem of underage drinking, but encouraging it. While it can be said that the legal age is twenty-one and it prohibits teenagers from purchasing and consuming alcohol publicly, it remains a fact that the teenagers do...
There are an estimated 3.3 million teen-age alcoholics in the United States. Adolescents who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin drinking at age 21. Youth who drink alcohol are five times more likely to smoke cigarettes, four times more likely to smoke marijuana, and three times more likely to use an illicit drug. Teens that use alcohol tend to become sexually active at earlier ages. Teens who use alcohol are more likely to be victims of violent crimes such as aggravated assault, robbery or rape.
We all know what it is like to wake up in the morning, with our head aching, and our body feeling like it was just hit by a train. College students world wide know this feeling. These are the results of binge drinking. The question of why college students continue to submit themselves to alcohol is unknown. While many reasons are given, the cause generally falls into one of three categories, peer pressure, insecurity, or to help solve there problems. But the one thing students don’t realize are the consequences and effects that binge drinking can have, health and social problems are just a few.
According to a national survey conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “almost 60 percent of college students ages 18–22 drank alcohol in the past month, 1 and almost 2 out of 3 of them engaged in binge drinking during that same timeframe” (NIH). Binge drinking culture refers to the recent rise and normalization of college age students drinking excessively. The CDC describes binge drinking as “a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol level to 0.08grams within two hours” (CDC). For many young adults, college is one of the first times they will experience complete freedom. This freedom often leads to partying, which goes hand in hand with the consumption of alcohol. However, since the age at which
The debate of whether the minimum legal drinking age should be lowered or not has been around for many years even since the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 raised the MLDA to age 21. Prior to that, the government has t...
Binge Drinking is an intriguing phenomenon that many college students take part in all across the country. The issue of binge drinking has been a problem on college campuses for decades. Binge drinking has many horrible effects, but the problem starts with the causes for it. If the causes could be controlled then the issue would not get out of hand. Many college students give different causes for their drinking problems, and experts on the subject have their explanations as well. The problem is, while growing through adolescence anything can become an excuse for drinking, such as ¡§its Thursday the day before Friday, we need to drink¡¨ or, ¡§it¡¦s the last Wednesday of the semester, lets get some beer.¡¨
Young people grow up seeing their parents and other adults make toast of wine and champagne at special occasions, as well as casually enjoying a few beers at a picnic. Today alcoholic beverages are frequently as common at business lunches as they are at college frat parties. Underage drinking is a huge problem which everyone must face. Underage drinking not only has devastating effects on those who drink but also on our society. "Young people illegally consume almost 3.6 billion drinks annually which is 10 million drinks each day."