Underage drinking by Nora ( Edison)

 Underage drinking is a leading public health problem in this country. In today’s society , approximately 20 percent of 8th graders have had at least one drink.  Underage drinking causes damages to the community and to the society.  The drinking age should remain twenty one years old for many reasons.

 According to data from the 2005 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, an annual survey of U.S. youth, three-fourths of 12th graders, more than two-thirds of 10th graders, and about two in every five 8th graders have consumed alcohol. And when youth drink they tend to drink intensively, often consuming four to five drinks at one time. MTF data show that 11 percent of 8th graders, 22 percent of 10th graders, and 29 percent of 12th graders had engaged in heavy  drinking within the past two weeks. Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings.  

Underage drinking creates short and long term health problems.  Drinking alcohol develops alcohol abuse and dependence later in life .  Alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combine. Furthermore,  alcohol use interacts with conditions; such as, depression, and stress, increasing the chances of suicide.  Alcohol affect the brain functioning, long-term thinking, and memory skills.  A report released by the Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse( CASA) reported that 95 % of violent crime between college students is alcohol related. So, lets stop this epidemic and recognize that underage drinking is dangerous. 

This entry was posted on 10. November 2009 at 04:19 and is filed under Social Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.