Underage Drinking

With so much talk of drugs like marijuana and heroin in America, it is alcohol that continues to be the first and foremost drug that people under the age of 21 abuse more often. Unfortunately, even programs such as D.A.R.E., which are readily talked in school as early as the first grade, teenagers like the majority to fail understand the consequences that go along with consuming too much alcohol.

Even with so much education on the subject from the D.A.R.E. programs and programs established by MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, teenagers continue to consume alcohol at an alarming rate.

A 2006 study on youth drinking by Georgetown University Center states that each day approximately 5,400 children under 16 years old take their first drink, each day 3 teenagers die in drinking and driving accidents and another 6 teenagers die of other alcohol related accidents. Having a teenager, I find that not only upsetting, but frightening.

We spend so much time making sure our kids brush their teeth, do their homework and get good grades only to have alcohol undo everything in the blink of an eye.

Underage drinking is not a new thing. We can look back to the days of moonshine and saloons to understand the love of a good drink. However, the reasons teenagers drink and the frequency teenagers drink are far different than those of adults.

Research shows that the younger a child is when they have their first alcoholic beverage, the more likely that child will be to become an alcoholic. That's a tough legacy to leave with a child for a little sip of beer at backyard barbeque. While most Americans believe that the bulk of alcohol is consumed by adults and not kids, it is important to note that a staggering 20-25% of all alcohol that is consumed in the United States is consumed by underage drinkers between the ages of 11 and 20.