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Sierrah Vredeveld

Mr.Droski

English 11B

17 December 2021

Throughout the world, about 24.6% of people under the age of 21 have consumed at least

one alcoholic beverage. This makes underage drinking a top problem in the world. Underage

drinking can cause many things that are bad for someone’s body, like increased rates of

depression, a higher likelihood of alcoholism, and a raised number of car crashes from being

intoxicated, even though people may back the idea that drinking at a young age can create a

better drinking culture.

Throughout the United States, the legal age to be able to drink is 21, and that is in place

for a reason. People who drink underage are susceptible to many problems in their lives, such as

alcoholism, alcohol poisoning, higher alcohol dependence later on in life, and an increased

sexual drive. Though people are getting an increased hold on underage drinking, it is still

considered to be a serious problem within the United States because it accounts for nearly 11

percent of all alcohol consumed. Not only can it cause a lot of physical problems within your

body, but it can also cause a lot of mental problems as well. It has been shown that

aggressiveness, hyperactivity, depression, anxiety, and antisocial behaviors are connected to an

increase in the person’s attraction to alcohol. Many states within the United States have tried

lowering the drinking age to 18 when the voting age got lowered; however, that did not turn out

in the long run. It caused many more motor vehicles to crash within the country, so the states that

had changed the legal age started to bring it back, but those that refused after a certain period of

time would lose 10 percent of their highway funding for the state. Though many parents do allow
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their kids to drink at home while underage, believing that that is more beneficial than making

them wait until they are 21, they can face repercussions. However, this can be misleading

because early exposure to alcohol can lead to a higher dependency later on in life. Much

underage drinking lead to violence as well because the brain is not fully developed. A lot of it

occurs because of binge drinking, which can lead to alcohol poison which has its own health

problems associated with it. Binge drinking has been mainly centered around fraternities or

sororities, though it can be recognized in kids in 8th grade as well, even though it contradicts

things like medical advice, scientific evidence, and the laws that are in place. Alcohol’s main

association is that it impairs thinking as well as cognitive skills such as driving. Approximately

24 percent of teen drivers who get in a crash have been consuming alcohol. As well as impaired

driving, underage drinking can lead to liver problems which give you a higher risk of getting

cancers as you age. As time has gone on, there are many ways to prevent kids from drinking

alcohol at a young age, such as alcohol informative programs, life skill training, and overall

prevention programs. Not only are people locally helping to limit the amount of underage

drinking, so is the legislature which has created many programs to help prevent youth from

drinking prematurely. Even if these methods fail there are ways to recover from early

dependence on alcohol. All of these methods are in place to help people throughout their

adolescent life.

Let’s start with the mental health problems that come to life with drinking while

underage. Though studies on the effects of alcohol on the brain are still being conducted, there

has been proof that there are developmental changes that can be detrimental to their cognitive

thinking skills and a person’s memory. Many people who study the effects on the brain still don’t

know if they are long-term effects; however, the article states “animals fed alcohol during this
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critical developmental stage continue to show long-lasting impairment from alcohol as they age”

(Lankford). With everything that researchers have proven throughout early studies, there is

evidence that drinking at an early age can cause extensive mental challenges as a person ages.

Secondly, alcohol usage at a young age can cause an increase in the chances of

alcoholism in adulthood. Many kids who either drink or have parents who drink around them or

are alcoholics tend to turn to controlled substances, like alcohol, to deal with their problems

because they did not have a stable home environment like others may have had. Having a

controlled environment for your child to grow up in is an important factor in whether or not a

child is going to turn to alcohol at any point in their life, especially if they have friends who turn

to alcohol because peer pressure is a major problem when it comes to major issues, like alcohol.

It is important to keep any alcoholic beverage out of the reach of children so that they do not get

addicted at a young age.

Finally, it raises the number of car crashes from being intoxicated. As stated by Kiesbye,

“As of June 1998, all states and the District of Columbia have set a BAC limit of .02 or lower for

drivers younger than aged 21”. He also stated that “Fake identification laws in the states that

have criminal or administrative license suspension sanctions account for about a 7% decrease in

underage drinking driver in fatal crashes.” This shows that when we place regulations on the

things that allow underage people to purchase alcohol we decrease the number of crashes that

happen within the countries.

Many people have argued that drinking with parents at a younger age can introduce a

better drinking culture later on in life. As stated in the article “Prohibiting a substance doesn’t

make the market for it disappear. Just as the prohibition of drug use and prostitution has not

stopped these activities, banning drinking for persons under 21 doesn’t stop 18-year-olds from
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drinking”(Hall). This indicates that with the adolescent mind if something is not allowed they are

drawn to it. This creates the argument that allowing the use of alcohol to younger people will

reduce the attraction making the world have a better drinking culture.

To conclude, underage drinking can cause many things that are bad for someone’s body,

like increased rates of depression, higher likelihood of alcoholism, it raises the number of car

crashes from being intoxicated, even though people way back the idea that drinking at a young

age can create a better drinking culture. All of this has been explained from the benefits of

non-toleration laws to the long-lasting effects on the brain. So do you think that your child

should be drinking underage?

Hall, Abigail R. "Lowering the Legal Drinking Age Will Create a Safer Drinking Culture." Gale

Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/WYXZTH901033709/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-

OVIC&xid=3a80ce2f. Accessed 9 Dec. 2021. Originally published as "The drinking age:

Won’t someone think of the children?!" The Hill, 9 Oct. 2015.

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National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "Alcohol Adversely Affects Adolescents."

Alcohol Abuse, edited by Ronnie D. Lankford, Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010276213/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-OVIC

&xid=e0f99f55. Accessed 10 Dec. 2021. Originally published as "Underage Drinking,"

Alcohol Alert, Jan. 2006, pp. 1-8.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "Risk Factors of Teen Alcohol Use." Teen

Alcoholism, edited by Laura K. Egendorf, Greenhaven Press, 2001. Contemporary Issues

Companion. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010084204/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-OVIC

&xid=85a92085. Accessed 9 Dec. 2021. Originally published as "Youth-Drinking: Risk

Factors and Consequences," Alcohol Alert, July 1997.

"The Legal Drinking Age Policy Has Been Effective." Should the Legal Drinking Age Be

Lowered?,

edited by Stefan Kiesbye, Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010520217/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-OVIC

&xid=e6486c1b. Accessed 9 Dec. 2021. Originally published as "Key Results: Minimum

Legal Drinking Age Policy," SAPRP.org, 2009.

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"Underage Drinking." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In

Context:

Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3021900174/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-OVIC

&xid=9fa2ee6d. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021.