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Cody Boysen
English 12
Underage Drinking
Last February a sixteen year old from W.F. High School, named Tyler Gonzalez, was
walking down the middle of Brockway Road, and was struck by a Lincoln Navigator, which
killed him (News in Brief:...). Tyler was intoxicated and supposedly had no idea what he was
doing. With this being said, underage drinking causes an individual to do things that they can not
control or even understand themselves and know what is right and wrong to do. Underage
drinking causes many problems in life to an individual. The solutions to this problem are to have
the individuals parents take part in their life and also the laws being strict.
Underage drinking is a major problem all around the world. It causes so many problems
to the individual. One major problem underage drinking causes can be death at such a young
age. The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates that alcohol is involved
in about 5,000 teen deaths each year (Elements Behavioral Health). After this being stated no
one wants to have the reasoning of death being excessive drinking. Another major problem
underage drinking causes is difficulties further in life. People who start drinking at an earlier
age experience alcohol related injury an alcohol dependence later in life (PR).With teens
becoming dependent on alcohol further in life means that it will be harder to get a job because
they will either always need an alcoholic beverage or always be intoxicated which means work
will be almost impossible.
Binge drinking is definitely a problem with underage drinkers. According to the
American Heritage Dictionary the term binge drinking means to soak or fill a boat with
water. A binge drinker likes to drink until they cant no more (PITTMAN). Binge drinking is

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one of the most common unhealthy drinking habits that happen to any drinker at any age.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 80,000 deaths occur due to
excessive drinking (PITTMAN). Having so many deaths a year from binge drinking should
show people that it is not a very safe habit to encounter.
In order to solve problems you need to have solutions to stop or decrease it. One solution
to stopping underage drinking is to have parents take part in their lives. One major way parents
can not have their kids drink is to show a good example and not drink heavily around them
because that encourages the kid to try it. They also should not provide alcohol for them because
there are harsh consequences for doing so. According to PR, Newswire, A majority of states
have civil and or criminal penalties for adults who serve alcohol to underage kids at home (PR,
Newswire). Parents can also take part in a kids life who has already started underage drinking by
getting them to attend different activities or having them stay away from the friends that might
participate in drinking. Having their kids participate in sports will keep their minds off of alcohol
since they are trying to make teams in sports. Also when someone participates in sports there are
strict guidelines to being part of the team like, doing good in school and also not being involved
in any drugs or alcohol. A downfall of this solution is that the government does not have any
control over how parents manage their kids. Having the government with no control over how
parents manage their kids give them the opportunity to supply alcohol. Another downfall is that
parents do not always have time to help their kids because their kids are usually attending school
and having after school activities like sports. The parents also usually have a job and do not have
time to fully take part and help their child out.
The second solution is having classes to inform the outcome of alcohol. Many schools
often provide abstinence-only education, which encourages teens to prevent alcohol abuse

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(Stromberg). By having these classes available in high school it shows and teaches them the
outcomes and what can happen from alcohol. Having this information before college will create
less people drinking because they already know what can or will happen to themselves. The
downfall of having these classes is that you need to have teachers in each class. If there are many
students you can all just push them into one room with one teacher so there will need to be
multiple teacher. These teachers will cost the government money to pay them. Another bad thing
about having these classes is that making time for the students to attend them if they have a busy
schedule.
The third solution is having the state enforcing strict laws on underage drinking. They
have a set minimum drinking age that anyone under that age is illegal drinking and can encounter
consequences through law. The prohibition of alcohol for anyone under twenty one, and attempt
to reduce alcohol abuse, has removed it from the civic domain and unintentionally given it a
clandestine appeal (PITTMAN). Another law that has been set in place is a zero tolerance law
which means no alcohol can be in the system when under the minimum drinking age. The zero
tolerance also means that people can be involved with activities that have alcohol. If any person
has been caught drinking with, attending any events or activities with alcohol with anyone over
the age of twenty one, the person over twenty one is convicted with a fist class misdemeanor.
The underage drinker can also be given a minor which can result in either court, probation or
even a fine. A downfall of having these laws is the government needs officers that will keep an
eye on the underage drinking to enforce the law. With having the officers out on patrol its
costing the government so much money having them being on patrol during the day and also at
night.

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As been stated before underage drinking is a major problem from the age ten through
twenty years of age. A couple big solutions that would help decrease the number of underage
drinkers would be to have parents take part in their childrens lives, students taking classes at
schools to educate themselves about the outcomes of alcohol, and lastly having the state
enforcing strict laws. After all that has been stated, the best solution that I think would work
would be to lower the drinking age to nineteen. This would be the best solution because the age
of nineteen is not too young and its not very old. When people are able to serve their country,
they should be able to go to the bar and sit down and enjoy and nice, cold, alcoholic beverage.
When having the drinking age being lowered the age of nineteen it would also eliminated the
thrill of breaking the law. If the minimum legal drinking age was brought down to the age of
nineteen more people would be able to drink in bars. This would help the economy by having an
increase in revenue for private business owners and also a greater increase in tax revenue
collected by the government. If having the minimum legal drinking age be nineteen, it would
allow almost every college student to no longer be violating the law by either drinking on
campus or even in unsupervised homes off of campus. The option of lowering it to the age of
eighteen has already been attempted and did not work. Having the drinking age at nineteen will
decrease the amount of deaths because so many underage drinkers are partying in unsafe
environments. This can result in something bad like fights or even passing out and getting sick
not being able to get help. When the minimum drinking age is nineteen, people will be able to
drink in a bar which is a public place so fights are usually stopped, and people are usually willing
to help someone who is sick or passed out. Most underage drinkers are safer drinkers than the
ones who just turned the legal drinking age. When someone turns the legal age to drink, they go
to the bar and get shots and drinks and more shots which results in them binge drinking and

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getting sick. People who have drank before and have already experienced, know the outcome of
drinking too much. Those people know the feeling of being sick and irresponsible, so when it
comes to turning the legal drinking age, they will know how to limit themselves and not get sick
unlike the ones who have drank for their first time.

Works Cited
Elements Behavioral Health. The Best Things Parents Can Do to Prevent teenage
Drinking. Elements Behavioral Health. Elements Behavioral Health. 3 April,
2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.

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Komro, Kelli A., M.P.H., Ph.D., and Traci L. Toomey, M.P.H., Ph.D. Strategies to Prevent
Underage Drinking. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
USA.gov, August 2002. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
"News in Brief: Police Bust Underaged Drinking Party and Parent Arrested for Providing
Alcohol; Sex Shop Burglarized in Chehalis, Police Request Public's Assistance in
Investigation." Chronicle, The (Centralia, WA) 12 Feb. 2013: Points of View Reference
Center. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
PITTMAN, BOND. "Drink Earlier, Drink Less." American Spectator 46.5 (2013): 42. Points of
View Reference Center. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
PR, Newswire. "Myths Debunked: Underage Drinking of Alcohol at Home Leads to Real
Consequences for Both Parents and Teens." PR Newswire US 22 May 2013: Points of
View Reference Center. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
Stromberg. Drew. Lowering the Drinking Age. Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Students for
sensible Drug Policy. 6 Aug. 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.