Under Age Drinking : The Problems It Creates
It's a Saturday night, and the bars are packed. People are inside having a few, or more than a few, drinks. A select few are really drunk or passed out. Now lets step outside and take a look at a different type of drinking, drinking at an early age. High school and junior high kids are at a party drinking. Like the adults, some are just having a few, but quite a few are having more than that and are stumbling around.
These kids have been given the idea that drinking is something that adults do, and we all know that kids can't wait to be grown up. Thus, they drink, figuring that if they can at least do what adults do then they will be grown up, in a way. This is how our society works.
Enough with the philosophy of it. Now I would like to talk about the effects that early age drinking can have on a person. I grew up in a town that has the most bars per capata in the state of Montana and is in the top ten in the United States. This has a huge effect on under age drinkers. The bars card at the door and as long as your 18 your in. And since the bouncers will stamp nearly anyone they know or like the number of kids is always high. It dosn't help that Dillon is a college town and ther are many under age college kids there. Now lets imagine another party where kids are drinking.
The bonfire is roaring, Bubba just decided that singeing everyone's eyebrows off by throwing some gasoline on the fire would be fun. Of course nobody thought that this was very funny except for Bubba. Bubba is not the only teenage person at this party who has had a few to many. There are a lot of under age kids who are just plain drunk. This is a regular kind of party in my hometown, everyone goes out and drinks to get drunk. The sad thing is, that these kind of parties happen a lot of time twice a week expecially during the spring. All this partying catches up with these young peolpe. They don't get jobs because they are too tired from partying all night or all weekend long.
Thier grades start slipping. The worst effect, however has to be the addiction to alcohol. I've seen freshman who drink all the time because they feel they can't live without their alcohol. Of course you have to realize that this is a
another kid to take a drink of alcohol, and the kid doesn't want his friends to
“National Minimum Drinking Age Act.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 21 April 2014. Web. 24 April 2014.
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.
...them when they take just one drink of alcohol, even if it is just one shot or one beer, it affect you. Most college student drink to socialize and that is not a good thing to do. When a students, or anyone, drink to be social there are more likely to have more then what they intended. Alcohol will affect the way that students think, feel, act, and socialize with others. Drink is a dangers action to participate in but that is a choice that one needs to make on their own. It is always fun at the time, but at that same time one does not think that they are permanently arming to their bodies. Whether children and teens drink 15,25 or even 30 percent of the alcohol consumed, the reality is that America has an underage drinking epidemic and alcohol is by far the drug most used by children and teens and poses the greatest threat to their well-being” (Underage, CNN.com pg2).
were drinking to get drunk than their counterparts a decade earlier, and one recent study reported an increase, just since 1994, in the number of students who drink deliberately to get drunk? (Smith 1). I interviewed my friend Shelly Mitchell who recently turned twenty-one and asked her how she felt about finally being legal to drink. She quoted, ?It is not as exciting to drink anymore, I mean I still like to go out with my friends to bars, but the fun is all over, in high school and college it was so exciting trying to get alcohol by using a fake ID.? All of these factors could be changed by lowering the drinking age to eighteen. In a study done by the Harvard School of Public Health, binge drinking is defined as five drinks in a row for boys and four drinks for girls. And when they did a survey they found that 44% of the students attending Harvard binge drink (Jeffrey Kluger 1).
In some cultures, there are situations that involves drinking. These include: birthday parties, New Year’s festivities, graduations, weddings receptions, Fourth of July, Christmas and Mardi Gras. In these holidays, people usually drink in excess to have a good time and celebrate. Different countries specialize in different types of alcohol, such as: the Italian have really good wine, Mexico is known for beer and tequila, Ireland is famous for beer and whiskey, Japan has their own beverage called Sake, and the United States is known for beer, wine, and whiskey. In these cultures, drinking alcohol is an acceptable type of celebration that teenagers even participate in. Not all alcohol consumed is in celebration. Therefore, “the top 20 percent of drinkers consume approximately 30 percent of all alcohol drunk over a 12-month period” (Grant 290).
These students go to the high school as well, and look forward to getting to
Alcoholics that are trapped so deep in the spell of alcoholism are leaving a legacy behind for those who continue to make alcohol companies millions of dollars by ruining their lives, making the wrong investment every time they purchase a bottle of alcohol; to them an “alternative route” to mask any issues they might be encountering at a particular time in their lives, and to those alcohol-making companies they are walking fortunes—walking billboards. Advertisement ads for these products continue targeting not only the already alcoholics, but also targeting underage drinkers. These alcohol-making companies can argue differently and have sworn to not be so focused on targeting people under 21. “Alcohol advertisers have pledged to comply with self-regulatory codes designed to limit t...
Alcoholism comes with many problems and consequences that are dangerous for young teens. In America the average age for a girl’s first drink is thirteen, and for a boy it’s eleven. Young teens that drink are more likely to do with or
Frey and Schonbeck explain that it is estimated that over 76 million people worldwide are affected by alcohol abuse or dependence. The chance of having an alcoholic in one’s life is very high. Children that grow up in an environment with an alcoholic may increase that child’s chance of becoming an alcoholic themselves. In the United States, the most commonly abused drug among youth is alcohol. Even though the legal drinking age is 21, nearly 20% of all alcohol consumed in the United States is by people under the legal age (83). In fact, when youth start drinking at social events in their teenage years, they are greatly increasing their risk of developing alcohol problems (85). Alcoholism can affect people of all ages. Furthermore, some experts try to differentiate between alcoholics and social drinkers. Typically, they base this off of five categories. Social drinkers do not drink alone. They consume minimal amounts of alcohol during social functions. Situational drinkers may not ever drink unless they are stressed out. These drinkers are more likely to drink by themselves. Problem drinkers can be described as a drinker that alcohol has caused problems in their life. However, they usually respond to advice given by others. Binge drinkers are out of control in their alcohol consumption. They may drink until they pass out or worse. Alcoholic drinkers have found that their lives have become unmanageable and that they are completely powerless over alcohol (84). Alcoholics should be cautious of their surroundings to prevent
Insecurity is another incentive to why students binge drink. Drinking alcohol has been a large part of society for many years. People find that it is easier to meet people when they have been drinking. Drinking has also been used as a way to get close to some one. There are also many social events drinking has created. There are cozy bars “where every body knows your name,” cocktail parties, and the high school favorite, house party.
In the great world of tending bar there is a myriad selection of customers one would encounter; The Social Drinker, The Self Defined Outcast, The Fish Out of Water, and last but never the least, The Freshman. Each level of drinker has its advantages in social circles and also has equal negative repercussions. Most of these classes aren't built from years of drinking, rather are formed through the personality traits they already have developed through their childhood and young adulthood. Only when alcohol is introduced to the equation, we see these great classifications shine through and become polished for all to enjoy.
Underage drunk driving is a serious problem. Many kids die every year from being drunk, getting behind the wheel of a vehicle and being too impaired to properly handle the vehicle, therefore injuring others, or even themselves. I’m not condoning drinking if you are underage but my thought on this is, if you are going to drink then at least do it in a safe place and somewhere you can spend the night and not have to drive.
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."
"Because time and amount of drinking are uncontrollable, the alcoholics is likely to engage in such behaviors as [1] breaking family commitments, both major and minor; [2] spending more money than planned; [3] drinking while intoxicated and getting arrested; [4] making inappropriate remarks to friends, family, and co-workers; [5] arguing, fighting and other anti-social actions. The alcoholic would probably neither do such things, nor approve of them in others unless he was drinking" (Johnson 203).