Underage Drinking
Underage Drinking: Can It Be Stopped? Underage drinking has become an extremely serious issue in our society today. The question that I ask myself is, how can we stop it? This problem doesn't only occur in large cities, but it also happens and even seems to thrive in small towns all across America. Every day teenagers die because of this terrible epidemic, often at the hands of their own friends. As a community we need to find some solutions to this problem before more lives are taken. I understand that this process will take some time, but I am willing to help put an end to it. The laws regarding the drinking age have been controversial for a number of years. The history of the legal drinking age can be traced all the way back to the time of Prohibition. After Prohibition, almost all states restricting youth access to alcohol designated age twenty-one as the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA). Between 1970 and 1975, however, 29 states lowered the MLDA to eighteen, nineteen, or twenty. These changes happened at the same time in which the minimum ages for other activities, such as voting were being lowered as well. Then, with evidence that a lower drinking age could result in more traffic related injuries and even deat
This kind of ignorance on the part of people that sell alcohol is extremely dangerous. If there is nothing else for a teen to do, they will find things to do such as having a beer party. Because of the police officer's failure to carry out the law, these teens will continue to drink because they know that they can get away with it. What kind of society has that kind of a value system? Although alcohol and illegal drug use are dangerously similar in many ways, alcohol abuse is unique because liquor consumption is not only legal for adults, but also encouraged by our social attitudes(Maxwell 97). Overall, I believe that there are far too many injuries and deaths resulting from underage drinking, and I hope to see this disturbing trend come to an end as soon as possible. With greater exposure to beer advertising, children have higher recall of brands or brand cartoon characters, may be more likely to expect to drink as adults, and hold more positive beliefs about the social and ritual uses of beer(Haskins 44). I can remember times in high school when certain teenagers were ridiculed because they wouldn't drink. One very important factor in the prevention of underage drinking is the role of the parents. This is one reason that a teenager may decide to go out drinking. People need to realize that they can have fun without drinking alcohol. When people think of drug problems they usually think it happens in the bigger cities, but this is not true. 4 million drinkers in the United States were less than twenty years old("States and Resources"). This may sound like a very minor thing, but the little things that we do can go a long way in solving this terrible problem. Some parents feel a sense of relief that it is "only alcohol" and not a "real drug" that their child is using(Haskins 41).
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Acceptance Essays
