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Underage drinking cause and effect
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Even though the legal age to start drinking in the United States is twenty-one, most teenagers tend to start drinking beforehand. These teenagers drink more heavily than adults do; therefore, developmental issues tend to be a factor that may affect a teenager’s system if they drink throughout their life span. Although teenagers are aware that drunk driving can be fatal and can cause permanent damage, they get behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol. Underage alcohol use is often associated with violence, suicide, educational failure, among other problematic behaviors among teens. Furthering the designated drinking age to twenty-five as the legal age to purchase and consume alcohol would reduce the number of highway fatalities. To begin, …show more content…
Department of Health and Human Services website, in the “Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction” section, mentions that, “Risk of drug abuse increases greatly during times of transition” (NIH N.Pag.). Even though many individuals may want to face the situation by themselves that is not sufficient enough most of the times to get rid of the dilemma (NIH N.Pag.). Drunk drivers should consider attending educational programs that offer a variety of information over alcohol and drug abuse to help guide through the process of rehabilitation (NIH N.Pag.). Several programs are offered outstanding opportunities to every one of all ages to change their lifestyle for a better future and for their community. As well as those who haven’t yet had the awful opportunity of being behind the well while under the influence of alcohol, they can still get informed in order to avoid all the possible consequences brought about from drunk driving. In conclusion, establishing the age of twenty-five as the legal age to purchase of alcohol can be of great benefit to the community on the long run. With the assistance of substance abuse treatments, the statistics for underage drinking will be reduced significantly. Parents who continue to watch out over what types of magazines or advertisements their children come across are positively influencing them and greatly impacting their
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.
Each year, about 5,000 teens are killed or injured in traffic crashes as a result of underage drinking and about 1,900 are due to car accidents. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation) In the newsletter, safety in numbers by National highway traffic administration and U.S department of transportation “Of all the people who died in motor vehicle crashes during 2012, 31 percent died in crashes involving a drunk driver, and this percentage remains unchanged for the past 10 years” (Vol 1, 2013). Crashes involving alcohol include fatal crashes in which a driver had a BAC of .01 g/ ld. or higher (Underage Drinking Statistics)). Deadly crashes involving alcohol are twice as common in teens compared to people 21 and older. This is because teens’ judgment skills are harmed more by alcohol. Teens who drink not only risk hurting themselves, they risk hurting their friends, family, and even strangers when driving intoxicated. Teens and parents both need a strong reminder that underage drinking is illegal and can have disastrous consequences. According to Health Day News, “one study found that in 2011, 36 percent of U.S. college students said they'd gone binge drinking (five or more drinks in one sitting) within the past two weeks, as compared to 43 percent of college students in 1988. Since 2006, the current law has reduced the rate of drunk driving crashes among young Americans” (Preidt, 2014 and DeJong, 2014). This proves that lives have been saved after the legal drinking age increased. According to an article in Time Magazine called “Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered?”, “lowering the drinking age to 18 would stop infantilizing college students, but it would probably kill mor...
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).
Bob Marley once said, “Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.” This is the case when it comes to teens and alcohol. In America, the National Minimum Legal Drinking Age is a topic of great debate and controversy. Many people argue that the age restriction provides a safe environment for all citizens; whereas others disagree that the law creates an untrustworthy aura among teens. If the minimum legal drinking age were to be lowered, most people would be affected by it, whether it be by an increase in drunk-driving or a rise in crimes. Although teens are legally considered adults by the age of eighteen and the minimum legal drinking age prompts underage teens to exhibit risky behavior, the age restriction should not be lowered from twenty-one to eighteen because young teens would have easier access to alcohol, the minimum legal drinking age has decreased alcohol-related problems, and alcohol can cause damage to underage drinkers.
Main, Carla T. “Underage Drinking and the Drinking Age.” Policy Review. June/July 2009: 33-46. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition. Web. 3 Mar. 2010.
There are numerous problems involving alcohol in the world today, including alcoholism, drunk driving, and alcohol poisoning leading to death. Many of these problems involve minors and are linked to drinking underage. The legal drinking age in many states is twenty-one years old. The purpose of this law is to keep minors out of danger: away from drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and injuring the brain before it is fully developed. The government supports the belief that people are not ready or responsible enough for alcohol until this age. However, various professors and researchers are discovering ways to disprove this belief. These people think that reducing the drinking age to eighteen would influence our country in a positive way. Not only do minors support this idea, but there are numerous people and organizations that support the idea of lowering the drinking age as well. The current drinking law is counterproductive in our society because it’s not effective in eliminating underage drinking, and leads to unsafe situations such as drunk driving and alcohol poison instigated deaths. This problem could be solved by lowering the minimum drinking age to eighteen, with a drinking license.
Many young adults and college educators argue that the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) should be lowered but I disagree. I don’t think that lowering the legal drinking age would be a good idea because alcohol is one of the main causes of deaths among young adults and also affects their academic performance. Lowering the legal age of drinking will just be a huge mistake. The government should instead raise it higher than 21 or enforce the MLDA more.
College life is filled with changes. It is filled with many new experiences. As college students, we are on our own, adults. As adults we are responsible for keeping up to date on information that affects us. One issue that affects college students nation wide is drinking. The current legal drinking age in the United States is twenty-one years of age. The Federal government raised the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 in 1984. Even with the current drinking age at twenty-one, many people under that age choose to drink anyway. In fact, a government survey from 1996 showed that 56% of high school seniors reported drinking in the last 30 days (Hanson). With so many underage drinkers, many people believe that the drinking age should be lowered, stating that people are going to drink, regardless of the legal age. Still others see the high number of underage drinkers as a sign that the legal age needs to stay where it is and stricter laws need to be implemented. With the extremely high number of underage drinking, we can assume that the current drinking age is relatively ineffective, and therefore we must ask ourselves: should the drinking age be lowered, or should we revise policies to make the current age more effective? It is important to view all sides of the issue before deciding which side to be on. We must look responsibly at the issue instead of saying that the drinking age should be lowered, simply because we are under 21. The current drinking age has many debatable sides, or approaches which need to be examined. Those approaches include lowering the drinking age because the current policies don?t work, lowering the drinking age because it would lead to more responsible drinking, kee...
As one of the major social problem, underage drinking can cause negative affect on both teenagers themselves and the whole society. Based on the research, approximately 190,000 youth under 21 visited emergency room for alcohol related hurts, even I accompanied one of my friends to ICU for alcohol poisoning nearly month ago. Annually about 5000 individuals under 21 die from it, not including other mature people directly or indirectly killed by them. Meanwhile, child’s brain and emotional developments are still in process until 20s so that taking alcohol will produce great damage on their body health. For example, alcohol can interfere with children’s capacity to build new, short, and lasting memories of information because it shrinks hippocampus about 10
In 1984 the national government raised the drinking age from eighteen to twenty-one with the intention of lowering the number of deaths that resulted from drunk driving. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act enforced this change by informing states that if they did not comply they would face a reduction in highway funds under the Federal Aid Act. Upon the ratification of the law the number of traffic fatalities among 18 to 20 year olds dropped thirteen percent. If the minimum legal drinking age were to be changed for eighteen year olds the United States could see a significant n...
Without a doubt, the United States has been facing serious national problems with underage drinking. Depending on personal ideologies, some people might not agree that the current minimum drinking age of twenty-one is based on scientific facts rather then ideology of prohibitionism. For example, since 1975 over seventeen thousand lives have been saved since the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was changed to age twenty-one (Balkin 167). This shows that even over a short amount of time, a higher MLDA helps decrease the risk of teen suicides, accidents and overdose deaths. However, this widely debated topic has inevitably brought attention to the plethora of supporting and opposing viewpoints. The minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one has shown significant results in the prevention of accidents and death studies across the board. Accordingly, the MLDA should remain at the current age of twenty-one.
...ring the legal drinking age would cause more car accident among young adults. Majority of the population require a personal care to transport. Most of the American kids learn how to drive at around the age of 16. Whether the legal drinking age is 18 or 21, alcohol-related traffic fatalities are a big issue in the states. In 2010, alcohol-impaired driving crashes killed 10,228 people, accounting for 31% of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. What would it be when more young people are going to drink after lowering the legal drinking age? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2,121 people in 2006 ages 16 to 20 died in alcohol-related fatalities on U.S. roads, but in 1984, the figure was 4,612. By the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimation, about 800 lives are saved a year when raising the drinking age to 21.
It really is no secret that if the minimum legal drinking age were lowered, a large number of teens would then drink for perhaps the first time. “The age group with the most drivers involved in fatal crashes with Blood Alcohol Content levels of .08 or higher during 2011 was the twenty-one to twenty-four-year-olds” (“National Highway Traffic Facts”). Young adults are just as irresponsible at eighteen as they are at twenty-one, maybe even more irresponsible. The teenagers will indulge themselves on what they feel is a luxury the first chance they get. The young adults abuse the alcohol, and then go driving because even at twenty-one through twenty-four they are still not as responsible. If the age is lowered to eighteen, many eighteen-year-olds will go out and drink alcohol for the first time. The age group may rise to number one in fatal crashes. The National Highway Traff...
I’m here to persuade you in supporting a lower legal drinking age to age 18 because 1. It would eliminate temptation of breaking law (to drink) 2. Reduce unsafe drinking activities (Binge drinking) 3. It should correspond to the age of adulthood
The growing awareness of alcohol hazards has made people more cautious of their drinking habits, particularly young adults. At present young adults have the highest prevalence of alcohol consumption than any other age group. They also drink more heavily, experience more negative consequences, and engage in more harmful activities, specifically drunk driving. Although surveys have documented a decline in recent years, consumption rates remain highest from late teen years to the late twenties (Johnston1-3). Despite the long-term decline since 1982 in alcohol related traffic deaths, a 4 percent increase occurred between 1994 and 1995 among young adults age 21 and over (Hingson 4). As alcohol-impaired driving persists, legal and community initiatives intervene to help reduce the problem, as well as, continuing research on possible solutions.