Thinking Before Drinking
- 2. - Turning 18 is a huge milestone in a teenager’s life, bringing on responsibilities of becoming an adult - These include things like living on their own, smoking a cigarette, and even joining the military and defending our country - But with all of these responsibilities granted, society does not think that an 18 year old should be able to drink alcohol
- 3. - In order to incorporate alcohol healthily into our society, we must allow alcohol to migrate in at a younger age - If introduced at an earlier age, and introduced responsibly, more people would know to drink and handle their alcohol - This would eliminate the occurrence of binge drinking so much, because it would not be seen as a ‘forbidden fruit’ to underage users
- 4. - Alcohol is, and will always be a huge part of our society that would be almost impossible to prohibit - Take the 1920’s for example, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment of the Constitution, making the creating, transporting, and sale of alcohol illegal - But with this Prohibition Era also came increased gang activities, illegally producing alcohol, and the introduction of speakeasies
- 5. - Society may had thought that Prohibition was a good idea, which it was, but it also came along with a lot of unintended negative consequences - History is always bound to repeat itself, and ever since the Prohibition Era has ended, people always find a way to break through regulations - No matter what we say or do, there will always be people under the age of 21 who receive alcohol. Prohibiting it more will make them want to drink more, so we need to teach
- 7. - Whenever we think about going off to a University, we usually think about all of the parties that go on with binge drinking - A majority of student entering college are around the age of 18 or 19, which is still too young to drink. But they get it anyway - Like the Prohibition Era, these students find a way to get alcohol despite the restrictions
- 8. - These people do not understand the dangers of binge drinking and the consequences that come along with it; things such as liver failure, liver cancer, or alcohol poisoning - Many fatalities also occur from drinking and driving
- 9. - If a person is not educated on the subject of alcohol, they will not know what are the right and wrong decisions, no matter what their age may be - Our society is extremely uneducated on the topic, and that is why the occurrence of fatalities is slowly rising, specifically in teenagers - However, some believe that the irresponsible use of alcohol starts at the family level
- 10. “Groups such as Italians, Greeks, Chinese and Jews, who have few drinking related problems, tend to share some common characteristics. Alcohol is neither seen as a poison or a magic potent, there is little or no social pressure to drink, irresponsible behavior is never tolerated, young people learn at home from their parents and from other adults how to handle alcohol in a responsible manner, there is societal consensus on what constitutes responsible drinking.”
- 11. - If we could incorporate alcohol at an earlier age, young adults would be more used to the concept of drinking, and it would not be seen as a forbidden fruit - So many teenagers drink underage as part as a rebellion, doing something they know they should not do - If we educate them on alcohol while lowering the drinking age, it teaches them that alcohol does not always have to be misused, it could be
- 12. - Alcohol is not always a bad thing, but we as a society need to model the responsible way to drink - By initiating and furthering education on alcohol control, it would decrease the number of fatalities due to binge drinking, and instills responsibility on a teenager - If an eighteen year old is able to vote, smoke cigarettes, and serve in our military, then alcohol is an adult right that should be awarded