Underage Drinking Critical Thinking Essay Will Cook Cap 9 Green Group

4/14/13

Underage Drinking Critical Thinking Paper

Will Cook Green Group

Underage drinking has been a growing problem in the U.S. for decades, and the effects on its youth have been profound and horrifying. Every year, there are multiple reports of alcohol linked deaths among teens, such as automobile accidents, alcohol poisoning, and suicide. These problems have been present in the U.S. for years, and the severity of these incidents will only continue to grow as years pass. More teens will be permanently damaged by the effects of alcohol, and some may even be subjected to physical or even sexual assault. There have been many attempts to reduce the amount of underage drinking, such as using community programs to raise awareness of the effects of drinking or increasing alcohol excise laws, but none of them have made definite progress in stopping youths from participating in underage drinking. Because of the increase of teens involved in excessive underage drinking, fatal alcohol related crashes, and risky sexual activity linked to drinking, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must strongly enforce minumum drinking age laws.

The history of underage drinking is one littered with sorrow, tragedy, and the loss of thousands of teen lives. In 2010, there were approximately 189,000 visits to the emergency room made by youths under 21 for injuries, illness and countless other conditions caused by drinking. In the

early 1900s, there was an attempt to make alcohol illegal, mostly because be the increases in underage drinking and abusive husbands. The U.S. made it to illegal to manufacture, sell or distribute alcohol under the 18th Amendment, made official on January 16, 1920. Despite placing a nationwide ban on alcohol, everyday citizens found ways to drink anyways, and, Drinking was on the rise. (Prohibition, 20th Century Historians) There was the creation of speakeasies, illegal bars selling bootleg liquor that were run by gansters and smugglers. The need for alcohol was so high that rum and whiskey were smuggled in from the Caribbean and Canada by gangsters, known as rumrunners. In addition to the blatant disregard for the law, which disrupted many businesses and companies, the law was poorly enforced, the lawman who were tasked with making sure alcohol was prohibited were poorly paid and therefore immensely susceptible to bribes. This shows that despite being understandable and justified, this almost authoritarian law penalized common citizens and was poorly enforced. Therefore, in the end it was an ineffective solution to end underage drinking. The law wasnt specific enough, it effected citizens who had never abused alcohol, and it never forbade youths from drinking, so they had easy access to alcohol and they werent reprimanded for drinking. This shows that Prohibition was a noble yet ineffective way of preventing drinking amongst youths.

Another solution constantly proposed is to limit the amount of alcohol related advertisements are shown to kids. Although it seems valid in theory, when applied to the real world, several conflicting factors arise. The basis for the idea is sound, however; wouldnt the best way to limit drinking in kids be to reduce the amount kids are exposed to glamorization of alcohol? On paper, this seems to be perfect; it reduces the likelihood of younger children to drink substantially, and it limits the amount of exposer to parents and adults, whos drinking habits are often passed down through generations. Finally, its a simple fix, the government doesnt have to do anything more than pass a law stating how many ads can be shown, and like a miracle, all underage drinking disappears! Or at least, thats how it seems to be. Unfortunately, there are a number of flaws and moral arguments that arise when examining this solution. First of all, it is penalizing the alcohol distributors, some of the biggest and most influential companies in our countries economy, making them out to be the sole reason thousands of teens are dying each year. This is not only immoral, it is unjust and unwise economically. Reducing the amount of ads promoting

alcohol that are in public, on TV or in movies will cut alcohol distributors profits. Now, these businessmen did not create their alcoholic beverage intending it to be the cause of a youths death; they brewed, distilled and marketed said beverage for an adult demographic. That being said, they should not have to suffer economically or socially due to any new drinking related mandates concerning youths. Also, these advertisements that are so frequently villianized are required by law to inform their audience to Please Drink Responsibly and that no person under the age of 21 should consume their product. They are in no way promoting underage drinking, and in the long run, restricting the amount of advertisements teens are exposed to will not prevent them from drinking. Despite being possible in theory, it is not a concrete, sure-fire method of preventing of underage drinking, and is not the correct solution to the problem.

The severity of underage drinking today is often over looked, due to the fact that it has been a problem for many decades. If it isnt remedied soon, the problem could continue to worsen. Alcohol is the most abused drug in the United States, even more so than tobacco or marijuana. Alarmingly, most boys try alcohol at only age 11, while most girls have their first drink at age 13. In the past month, over 10 million teens have drunk alcohol. (National Survey on Drug Use and Health), Additionally 39% percent of high school students admitted to drinking more than once in the past 30 days. Teens consume 11% percent of all alcohol in the US annually, and 25% of youths 12-20 will drink more than once. One fourth of all teens will drink, and this will contribute to the 4,700 deaths attributed to underage drinking each year. Even when teens dont die from drinking, it can still be detrimental to their health; they can suffer from mental disabilities and social disorders. Drinking has become a harmful way for teens of all ages to cope with social and academic pressures, and it can have serious, lifealtering effects on those who take up the habit.

Youths who become sucked into the downward spiral of underage drinking can suffer greatly from their choice. Teens who drink are at a higher risk of academic difficulties; their drinking habits may inhibit them from showing up to class one morning or distract them from studying for a key test. Even more so, underage drinking can cause fatal automotive incidents; almost 5000 teens a year are killed in crashes where one or more kids in the car had been drinking. In 2008, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a 14 year old girl was throw from a car after a crash where her driver had been under the influence. She sustained, great emotional and physical pain, and

permanent disfigurement and scarring (The Times-Tribune). This is just one of countless tragic stories of teens being involved in horrible, life changing accidents due to the effect of alcohol. The last, most scarring effect of alcohol is the risky sexual behavior it encourages. Alcohol is linked to two-thirds of all date rapes and accounts of sexual assault amongst teens. It inhibits youths from thinking logical or rationally, and over the past decade there have been countless, simply horrendous accounts of teens engaging in rape or unplanned sexual behavior while under the direct influence of alcohol. Victims of sexual abuse can be prone to flashbacks, depression and self-harm. Alcohol can introduce teens to a world of sadness and suffering, and the problem of underage drinking is one of great importance.

The solution that would best prevent underage drinking would be to have the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services create laws and employ personnel that would enforce the minimum drinking age of 21. If local police were negligent of the law, perhaps creating a special task force in charge of alcohol management would be the best route. This solution is superior and more effective than all others for several key reasons; it will be more successful in limiting youths access to alcoholic beverages, it will be governmentally funded, and it will only affect those who could be at risk of underage drinking, instead of punishing common citizens or alcohol distributors. Since more enforcement of the minimum drinking age would increase youths difficulty in acquiring alcohol, the accounts of youths actually drinking would decrease, and thus underage drinking would slowly become less of a national problem. Although community programs with the intention to raise awareness of the problem may help youths learn reasons to avoid alcohol, they are funded by the community and therefore cannot be sustained or very wide reaching. With government funds, the law could effectively prevent teens from accessing alcohol, which is where all underage drinking climaxes. Although many teens may want to drink, if they dont have the chance to get alcohol or drink, they wont be able to start drinking. This is the difference between community programs and minimum drinking age laws. Programs only discourage teens, laws actually prevent underage drinking. Because enforcing minimum drinking age laws would be the most effective at preventing underage drinking, we should looking into doing so as a solution.

If we dont act now, the problem of underage drinking will only get worse. Students will continue to flunk their classes and drink in school to avoid dealing with hangovers. The police will continue to be forced to wake up families in the middle of the night, and inform them that their son or daughter has been involved in a car accident where the driver was drunk. Teens will continue to become addicted to alcohol, become alcoholics as adults, and then pass their drinking habits onto their own children, now doomed to drink. The only way to stop it is to prevent it from starting in the first place. If we dont act now, decades of children will be exposed to drinking.

Underage drinking is a huge problem in the U.S.. More teens die of alcohol abuse than suicide each year. It has resulted in the deaths of thousands of youths, sexual abuse, and countless legal troubles. Enforcing minimum drinking age laws will be the most effective solution, while targeting alcohol advertisements will only hurt alcohol distributors. Because of the increase of teens involved in excessive underage drinking, fatal alcohol related crashes, and risky sexual activity linked to drinking, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must strongly enforce minimum drinking age laws.

Sources Cited: http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/underage-drinking.htm http://www.centurycouncil.org/underage-drinking/statistics http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/underagedrinking.html http://www.alcoholpolicymd.com/programs/rudc.htm http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/UnderageDrinking.html http://www.cadca.org/resources/detail/niaaa-expert-offers-solutionsunderage-drinking http://alcoholnews.org/Underage%20drinking.html

http://www.monheit.com/teenage-drinking/statistics.asp