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One Drink, One Mistake

If I could go back in time and help my cousin stop drinking I would definitely do it. My

cousin was going through depression and turned his head to alcohol. Now that he is an adult, he

has to take medication every day. If the government and people around the world were more

strict about young teens drinking, situations like this would not have to occur. ​The legal

drinking age should not be lowered to 18 because drinking too much alcohol can cause

addiction, alcohol poisoning and alcohol-associated behavior​.

Legal drinking age should not be lowered to 18 because alcohol can cause young teen

addiction. Alcohol related laws have shown the positive impact they have done. Researchers

have studied laws and have shown that there is a lot of evidence of the positive impact they have

(Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services Administration 1). Researchers and their studies

have shown that laws can have a positive impact. Drinking age laws have been very effective in

reducing alcohol related problems (Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services Administration

1). Law made according to legal drinking age have made a decrease in alcohol related

problems/accidents. As i have shown alcohol related problems can be reduced when laws are

applied.

Lowering the drinking age can also cause an increase percentages in alcohol related

traffic crashes. When the legal drinking age was lowered in many states during the 1970’s and

early 1980’s there was a 10% increase in average alcohol related traffic crashes (Science Daily
1). If the legal drinking age was lowered there would be more related alcohol accidents that

would begin to occur. Frequent binge drinkers are also more likely to be injured in physical

fights and suicide attempts (Science Daily 1). Binge drinkers can also cause an increase on other

different types of incidents such as addiction in the future.

People who are addicted to alcohol as adults are proven to have binge drinking when they

were young teens in the past. People who start drinking at an early age are more likely to develop

a dependence on alcohol later in life (Addiction Center 1). Young underage people who drink

will get addicted to alcohol and continue drinking once they older or an adult. According to a

report from the substance abuse and mental health services administration, there was an

estimated 10 million underage drinkers in 2010 (Addiction Center 1). The underage drinking

problem isn't only going on in the united states, this problem is going on in many other countries

such as Mexico, Russia, and Japan just to name a few. People think or say that if alcohol prices

go up that it may stop alcohol addiction because young teens would think alcohol is too

expensive.

Young teens might not have enough money to buy alcohol if alcohol sellers raise the

price of alcohol. A study found that increasing the alcohol prices by 10% it led to a 32%

reduction in alcohol related deaths (Khan 1). When alcohol prices go up alcohol related deaths

decrease because people will start to stop buying alcohol because it would be too pricey. If

young teens begin to drink at a young age they will most likely begin to heavy drink in the future

as they become adults ( Khan 1 ) . Adults who began to drink at an early age now rely on alcohol
to overcome situations or forget about problems in the past. These people who drink heavily

have a high risk of alcohol poisoning and maybe even die because of drinking too much alcohol.

There is many information and statistics from the past in relation to alcohol such as how

many people have died because of alcohol related situations. Based on data from 2006 through

2010, 245 young people under the age of 21 died from alcohol poisoning ( National Institute On

Alcohol Abuse And Alcoholism 1). For 245 young people to die between 2006 and 2010 because

of alcohol poisoning is a huge number. In 2011 about 188,000 young people under the age of 21

visited an emergency room because of alcohol related injuries (National Institute On Alcohol

Abuse And Alcoholism 1). Being drunk can cause many different types of injuries such as fights,

just to name one. Drinking too much alcohol also cause damage to the human brain over time of

drinking a lot of alcohol.

Young teens under the age of 21 have different effects/consequences to the body than

adult heavy drinkers do. Researchers have shown that drinking too much alcohol during the

teenage years has a greater effect on the human brain than it does on adult alcohol drinkers

(Conley 1). Alcohol has a bigger effect on young teens because there body is not fully

developed. “They drink these spirits and it hits there system and their livers can’t possibly handle

all of the alcohol the body has been drinking at once”, said Hamberis (Conley 1). Teenagers

drink way too much alcohol that their body can not handle everything that they have been

drinking, especially their liver. Teens under the age of 21 drinking alcohol doesn't only cause

sickness, it also cause dangerous alcohol related behavior.

 As young teens begin to drink enough alcohol to the point where they are drunk they can

begin to start and cause dangerous alcohol behavior on there self and also on other people. Car

crashes are the leading death for teens, about a quarter of the crashes that occur the crash

involves a driver who had been drinking under age (Addition center 1). If teens don't stop

drinking and driving the crash rates because of alcohol will begin to rise up and maybe even

double up. Girls are more likely to drink because of family problems than because of peer

pressure (Addiction Center 1). Boys and girls tend to drink because of different reasons such as

family problems or even just for fun. Lowering the drinking age would cause alcohol rates to go

up even higher than they already are.

Underage drinkers tend to drink independently without anyone else knowing they are

because of them not being the legal drinking age. Lowering the legal drinking age has also been

linked to an increase in the teen traffic fatality rates (Ryma/Corbis 1). If the legal drinking age

was lowered the fatality rates would increase as they did in the past when in some states the legal

drinking age was lowered to 18. Extent lower drinking ages can be linked to a higher risk of

more high school dropouts (Ryma/Corbis 1). Alcohol is one reason why there is many school

dropouts, if students continue to drink the rates will begin to go up higher even more. Alcohol

can not only just cause more high school dropouts but it can also cause more problems such as

sexual behavior.
 Alcohol is very dangerous when young teens begin to drink it at a young age because

once teens get drunk they would not know the things they would begin to do. Alcohol is

associated with an increased risk of hazardous sexual behavior, academic failure, and drug abuse

(Nagin 1). Teenagers drinking alcohol may even lead them to try and begin to get involved into

drugs which is a horrible thing. Other studies have shown that 75% male and 55% female

students in date rape had been drunk or using drugs (Nagin 1).Been drunk can cause people to

commit horrible crimes such as raping another human while being drunk. As I have said/shown,

teenagers can take very dangerous decisions while being drunk.

This graph shows and tells us how often 8th,10th, and 12th graders have drank or drink

alcohol. As you can see in the graph 11 8th graders, 28 10th graders, and 42 12th graders have
drinked in the past month. One of the most surprising section of the graph is where the graph

tells you that 5 8th graders, 16 10th graders and 24 12th graders are binge drinkers. All of these

section are surprising but the most shocking out of all of them is where the graphs shows us that

1 10th grader and 3 12th graders drink daily. These numbers might be small but it sure speaks

loud.

Many people still believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. What these

people don't take account in this argument is that drinking at a young age and going to school

causes many educational failures and also high school dropouts because of drinking alcohol at

such a young age. These people also don't take in mind the negative things that alcohol drinking

can cause to young teens under the age of 21.

Knowing that drinking can be dangerous for young under age drinkers because it can

cause alcohol poisoning, alcohol addiction, and alcohol associated behavior the government

should continue to keep the legal drinking age at 21. As I have shown, under age drinking can

cause many different types of problems involving alcohol. Society should be concerned with this

situation because it isn't a small problem it is in fact a worldwide problem and many teenager are

dieing at the expense of alcohol.

Works Cited

“18 Interesting Pro Lowering the Drinking Age Statistics.” ​HRFnd,​ 7 Apr. 2015,

healthresearchfunding.org/18-interesting-pro-lowering-drinking-age-statistics/.
Conley, Mikaela. “14-Year-Old Dies of Possible Alcohol Poisoning.” ​ABC News,​ ABC News

Network, 14 July 2011,

abcnews.go.com/Health/14-year-dies-alcohol-poisoning-slumber-party/story?id=1406503

8.

Khan, Amir. “Younger Drinking Age Linked to Binge Drinking.” ​EverydayHealth.com,​ 7 Feb.

2013,

www.everydayhealth.com/addiction/younger-drinking-age-linked-to-binge-drinking-610

0.aspx.

“Lower Drinking Ages Can Have an Impact on Later Drinking Patterns.” ​ScienceDaily​,

ScienceDaily, 22 Jan. 2013,

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130122162232.htm.

“Lower Drinking Ages Can Impact Later Drinking Patterns.” ​ATTC - Addiction Science Made

Easy,​ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,

www.attcnetwork.org/explore/priorityareas/science/tools/asmeDetails.asp?ID=798.

Nagin, Matt. “Top 3 Reasons Why the Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered to 18.” ​Mic​, Mic

Network Inc., 25 Oct. 2015,

mic.com/articles/14574/top-3-reasons-why-the-drinking-age-should-not-be-lowered-to-1

8#.pCjDN1vQN.

“National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.” ​Under Age Drinking​, Feb. 2017,

pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/underagedrinking/Underage_Fact.pdf.
Ryman/Corbis, Anders. “One Bad Side Effect of Lowering the Drinking Age.” ​Science of Us,​

Science of Us,

nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/09/one-bad-side-effect-of-lowering-the-drinking-age.html.

“Underage Drinking - Teenage Alcohol Abuse and Addiction.” ​AddictionCenter​, Addiction

Center, www.addictioncenter.com/teenage-drug-abuse/underage-drinking/.

“Underage Drinking - Teenage Alcohol Abuse and Addiction.” ​AddictionCenter​, Addiction

Center, www.addictioncenter.com/teenage-drug-abuse/underage-drinking/.