Ms. Smith
English 11
17 October 2011
Underage Drinking and You
According to Answers.com, an average of twelve thousand nine hundred eighty two people die a year from underage drinking; many of them being car accidents. With so many people underage drinking, I feel that the law should be heavily enforced that underage drinking is NOT okay. There should be no underage drinking, whatsoever, under the legal age of twenty one. Underage drinking is very hard on the human’s brain development. The front part of your brain, the decision maker, is not fully developed until you are an adult. Drinking before that age can impact your brains healthy development. Many people may not know how to handle drinking, and the amount that their body is consuming. Some people may argue that alcohol makes them “feel good.” These people obviously have no concept of life, because if you do other things you enjoy such as; sports, clubs, movies, hang out with friends, etc. You could find many other activities that can make you feel good. Underage drinking cause’s people to make bad decisions, such as; driving while intoxicated, becoming pregnant, and making a complete fool of themselves while intoxicated, are just be a few instances that can and will impact your life forever. Some individuals don’t understand what alcohol really does to the body. Beer has empty calories that will make you gain weight. Which is why a lot of alcoholics have larger stomachs, or another term many people use for these large stomachs is, “beer belly.” Some people may say that alcohol helps you escape your problems and is a stress relevant. Alcohol will not only bring more stress onto your life, it will also bring more problems. As much as people may feel alcohol helps, it really won’t help. If you need help that bad, I would suggest a therapist to help you with your problems, not a depressant. So that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
The last statement to be made about underage drinking is the fact that it will start to make you feel completely careless. Your grades in school, and in life for that matter, will drop. School is a huge part of our everyday life. It is the main component to a happy future, because without your education you will not be successful in life. Most teens will argue that their brains are already developed and that “everyone is doing it”. In reality, your brain is actually not fully developed as told above. And everyone is not doing it, if everyone did it, everyone would be bums. The individuals, who are strong believers in not drinking alcohol while under the age, are very successful in life. But not all people will follow in their footsteps.
There are many reasons to back up the fact that underage drinking should be heavily enforced. Remember how hard alcohol is on the brain, your bodily development, and the struggles it will make you go through in life. Alcohol is not the answer to any of our problems. Take a stand in your life and make the right decisions. What will you decide is the right choice for you?
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Some of the reasons why people drink alcohol is because him or her might have personal or family problems. This is the main reason why most adults drink alcohol so they feel better when they are depressed, but this is a bad way to fix the problems only imagine if someone was drinking intoxicated and the collide with another car. What would happen to the other people in the car or yourself who is drinking the alcohol. This was an incident that had been occurred to a woman named Jacqueline Saburido. She had been burned very seriously when an intoxicated driver had collided to the back of the car Jacqueline had been sitting in. The driver had been fined 20,000 dollars and seven years in jail. Another reason why people are drinking is because of student or peer pressure. This means that someone is forcing you to drink but you don’t to be left out because you want to be cool like the other kids who do drink alcohol. Other reasons why people drink is because most people like how it taste and or it is part of their religion, but some people might drink alcohol is to join friends in socializing. There are many other reasons why people intoxicate themselves.…
- 749 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Each year, there is talk as to whether underage is that big of deal and if the drinking age should be lowered, raised, or just remain the same. I feel as if underage drinking is not okay and many unnecessary deaths are caused each year because of teens engaging in underage drinking. If anything, raising the drinking age to twenty five years of age would help ensure less deaths due to drunk driving or DUI’s. Therefore, laws against underage drinking should still be enforced and the drinking age should be raised in order to prevent more death or any other negative effects associated with underage drinking. Now, there are many reports of deaths due to underage drinking.…
- 631 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
For instance, other research shows that the younger children and adolescents are when they start to drink, the more likely they will be to engage in behaviors that harm themselves and others (NIH). This confirms that having a bad behavior at or under the age of 21 can lead to people getting harmed, harassed, or even killed. Also, driving under intoxication can lead to major car accidents and people can get hurt or even die. Another example is, frequent binge drinkers (nearly 1 million high school students nationwide) are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, including using other drugs, having sex, and earning grades that are mostly D's and F’s in school (NIH). This proves that people can get sexually assaulted while intoxicated and don't even know. You can also be failing your class or classes because alcohol can start deacon functioning your brain and be unintelligent, if you keep on continuing and not stopping at all. The minimum drinking should be raised to 25 because young adults are more expected to abuse and/or even murder themselves or others by consuming above-mentioned to…
- 888 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
More than twenty one thousand lives have been saved with the drinking age being twenty one. For about 10 years in the early 1900’s, our country ratified the 18th amendment which banned the production and consumption of alcohol. This amendment led to extreme crime, violence, and even speakeasies. Our country realized that it wasn’t the best idea for prohibition, and we then ratified the 21st amendment that repealed the 18th amendment. The 21st amendment has helped prevent car related tragedies in the 18-20 age group while they were under the influence. I believe the alcohol age should not change because of it reducing crashes, the fact that your brain is more developed and you understand your limits, and a change in New Zealand’s drinking to age 18 has spiked the percentage of alcohol related crashes.…
- 842 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
There is a giant debate on what the legal minimum drinking age should be in the United States. Many people think that it should remain at 21 years old and others believe that it should be lowered to 18. While both have their own various reasons, this has been an important topic in our country for a long time. President Ronald Reagan signed and passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Law in 1984 which obligated states to raise their legal drinking age to 21 or suffer reductions in Federal highway funds. The highway funds and drinking age was linked together by the young lives lost on our highways. Even though this was a satisfactory reason to raise the drinking age there are still more reasons to why it should be 18. Despite what most people…
- 1237 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Drinking at an early age has been an ongoing discussion among young Americans and their opponents, their parents and, elders. Much adolescence believe that setting the drinking age at 21 does not make any difference, and it should even be lowered to 18, as many other countries hold. Even though there is no proof that not legalizing drinking age at 21 genuinely makes a difference, US should not lower the drinking age, and should maintain it at 21 years old.…
- 440 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
When you are eighteen years old you have multiple responsibilities. Everyone who is eighteen is seen as a responsible, mature young adult. If eighteen year olds are portrayed as responsible and mature adults then why can’t they buy or consume alcohol? The alcoholic drinking age should be lowered to age eighteen because at that age you are responsible, mature, and it will help send the right message.…
- 816 Words
- 4 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Drinking underage is a serious problem that the U.S is facing. There is a lot of problems with the drinking age 21, but if you lower or upper the drinking age not much difference will happen. The human brain isn’t fully developed until the age 21. Teenagers don’t know enough to make informed, smart decisions relating to alcohol. The drinking age shouldn't be lowered because of three very real risks like: drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and violent and/or destructive behavior. We have research reasons from three articles that could convince you to keep the average age to drinking 21.…
- 682 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
As a teen I have been told that drinking is a privilege and I can wait till I am Twenty-one to drink. Being told it is a privilege many teens can't wait to start so they do it anyway. If we lowered the drinking age to just let them have what they want then this could lead to younger children wanting to drink too. Little kids look up to their older siblings as a mentor, and if they see them drinking and causing destruction then they would want to too. Not only would little kids want to drink, it could cause their older siblings to be more violent to the little ones. Over time if people see little kids drinking would we just cut the drinking age and let everyone drink if they want. Take this into mind, if you have kids and your oldest is walking…
- 166 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Alcohol consumption is the third leading actual cause of death in the United States, a major contributing factor to unintentional injuries, the leading cause of death for young people, and it accounts for an estimated 75,000 or more total deaths in the United States annually. There have been a lot of discussions about whether to keep the minimum legal drinking age at 21 or to lower the minimum legal drinking age to 18. The minimum legal drinking age in the United States is set at 21. Limiting the age to 21 as the legal age of maturity is preposterous. When someone is 21, it does not guarantee or mean that they are mature enough to consume alcohol responsibly. Eighteen is considered as an adult, and they…
- 976 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
Have you ever been to a party and it seems like everyone there is drunk? Teen alcohol consumption has become quite a problem. Parents don’t know how to stop it or they choose to bury their heads in the sand and not have to deal with it. There are many consequences associated with underage drinking. Parents need to be able to talk to their children about it. There are strategies that parents can use on their child to prevent underage drinking.…
- 459 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
It’s not as much fun when its allowed! The most common reason for underage drinking is because alcohol is seen as “the forbidden fruit. In a study by Dr. Engs, professor of applied health and science, found that by increasing the legal drinking age, young people tend to abuse alcohol more. In actuality raising the drinking age was much worse than doing nothing. Drinking is more exciting when it is illegal. So many people go out and get drunk simply because they know that it’s illegal (Dr Engs). If we do away with this concept then we are left we people partaking in less booze filled…
- 716 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Teenagers will do just about anything to fit in with the "popular" crowd. Drinking and partying are both viewed as cool or popular in the eyes of some teenagers. What does a teenage party consist of? Well, it will usually take place in a house with no parental supervision, along with members of both sex, and a lot of alcohol. The teens may then engage in drinking games such as beer pong, flip cup, quarters, presidents and A-holes, to name a few. As time passes trouble begins. The girls may become more vulnerable to sexual activity than if they were sober. Some kids may become very sick and could possibly acquire alcohol poisoning. And to top it all off, others may get behind the wheel of a car and attempt to drive home. These are just a few of the problems that arise from underage drinking.…
- 1084 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In the United States, there is a certain legal age that states the time in which individuals are allowed to drink or purchase alcohol. Even though you may not agree with most of the rules that the federal government has set in place, this is one rule that I am definitely in favor for. They have placed the legal age limit at 21 for all alcoholic beverages. It does not matter what state you are in; the drinking law is the same for all 50 states in the United States of America (Cost of Underage Drinking). Sadly, sometimes these laws are broken. Even with these laws in place, the alcoholic consumption by our youth still becomes an issue in the United States. After doing research I have come to find out that statistics show that at least eleven million teenagers are still underage drinkers, with about half of them being binge drinkers, meaning they usually have more than 5 drinks per occasion (Flewelling) . In my opinion I believe that America needs to have a change in culture and beliefs towards underage drinking and make it a main…
- 1846 Words
- 8 Pages
Good Essays -
Throughout the years, there has been massive debate and arguments whether or not alcohol should be prohibited. In most countries, at a certain age, adults are allowed to purchase alcohol contents without being limited to certain choices. However, with the rise of alcohol products, there are concerns to public health and safety. Restrictions should be placed on alcohol consumption.…
- 651 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays