Another Empty Bottle Underage Essay Research Paper

Another Empty Bottle: Underage Essay, Research Paper

Another Empty Bottle: Underage Drinking

Barely out of childhood, young people are today experiencing more freedom, autonomy, and choices than ever, at a time when they still need special nurturing, protection and guidance. Without parents or other adults safeguarding, the young adolescents are at risk of harming themselves and others. Early adolescence is a critical turning point in one’s life. This period, therefore, represents an optimal time for interventions to prevent destructive behaviour and promote healthy practices. “More than 10 million drinkers in Canada are between the ages of 12 and 20. Of these young drinkers, 20% engage in binge drinking and 6% are heavy drinkers ” (www.cspinet.org/booze/alcyouth.htm p.1of 2). (1) On average, young people begin drinking at 13 years of age. The question then being: Can society be held responsible for the consequences to underage drinking. Throughout the following, you as the reader will discover the health consequences to alcohol abuse, what can happen as a result of binge drinking, the best practices for regulating underage drinking, social issues about why teens drink, search methods used by law enforcement, and lastly how youth can be easily lead to underage consumption.

The use and the abuse of alcohol by teens is very common and can have serious consequences. Alcohol is a depressant that slows down the body and mind. Just one drink is enough to result in serious consequences. When and individual drinks, some of the alcohol is absorbed into the blood through the stomach, but most is absorbed through the small intestine. Once in the blood, it travels to many parts of the body, including the heart, brain and liver. The liver functions to remove alcohol from the bloodstream, but it can only eliminate a certain amount of alcohol per hour. When someone drinks alcohol at a faster rate than their liver can eliminate, problems arise. As the alcohol level in the blood increases, intoxication occurs, leading to alcohol poisoning, respiratory failure and eventually coma and death. Alcohol can prevent young people from developing good judgement, it can add stress and it can cause low self esteem. In addition, alcohol interferes with growth, and disrupts athletic ability by slowing down coordination and reflexes. Alcohol also lowers the body’s immune system and causes many emotional, physical, and sexual problems. Sex can be a confusing topic for teens and alcohol doesn’t make it any easier. It interferes with their ability to choose wisely. Alcohol also increases the risk of HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, as well as date rape and other violence. “Almost half of the teens that are in custody of crimes such as rape, murder, assault and drug charges all claimed that they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crime” (www.library.thinkquest.org/ dwi. htm p.1of 2). (2)

Binge drinking increases the risk for alcohol-related injury, especially for young people who often combine alcohol with other high risk activities such as impaired driving. Due to heavy binge drinking, nearly one out of every five teenagers (16%) has experienced blackouts after which they could not remember what happened the previous evening. What is binge drinking. Binge drinking can be defined as ” the consumption of five or more drinks in a row on at least one occasion”(www.health.org/govpubs/binge.htm

p.1of 2). (3) Binge drinking is very common amongst teenagers before a social gathering such as a dance or formal activity administrated by the school. According to the Centers for Disease Control Prevention the four leading injury-related causes of death among youths under the age of 19 are motor vehicle crashes, homicides, suicides, and drownings. Alcohol is involved in more than half of these deaths. Binge drinking, or the partying lifestyle of young people may be related to an environment that appears to support heavy drinking. Binge drinkers cited the following as important reasons for drinking: 47% say that they drink to get drunk, others say because of statutes associated with drinking. Some say because of culture of alcohol consumption and others drink because of peer pressure or academic stress.

A higher percentage of binge drinkers than non-binge drinkers reported having experienced alcohol related problems. “Frequent binge drinkers were 21 times more likely than non-binge drinkers to have missed class, fallen behind in school work,

damaged property, been hurt or injured, engaged in unplanned sexual activity, had unprotected sex, gotten in trouble with the police and driven a car after drinking”.

(www.cspinet.org/booze/fact1.htm p.2 of 2 ). (4) Binge drinking also has an impact on others. 71% say that they had sleep or study interrupted, 57% say that they had to take care of an intoxicated friend, 36% had been insulted or humiliated by a drunk friend, 23% had experienced unwanted sex, 23% also reported a serious argument, 16% had property damaged, 11% had been pushed, hit or assaulted, and 1% had been the victim of a sexual advance such as date rape.

Prevention strategies in response to binge drinking by young people include actions to reduce alcohol availability, such as increases in price, and responsible beverage service practices, especially at parties. Some communities require keg tagging, which re