The Dangers Of Underage Drinking On Health
Julia Gonzalez was found deceased in a park in 2008 at the age of sixteen. She consumed sixteen drinks in an hour. One drink an hour is the amount required for a healthy individual. Although there are laws made about underage drinking in the United States, better education through high school programs concerning drinking should be implemented because drinking is one of the top leading death causes, it is also very bad for one’s health, and alcohol leads to many diseases such as cancer, kidney disease, heart disease, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stokes. It has no benefits to the body because alcohol is a drug. High school programs should be implemented to help reduce underage drinking. Statistics show that students feel the need to be more educated when it comes to alcohol consumption. Ogenchuk Marcella, Author of “High School Students’ Perceptions of Alcohol Prevention Programs”, stated, it was discovered that understudies felt a requirement for expanded data on liquor instruction at the secondary school level. They recognized substance and favored strategies for conveyance to improve psychological, conduct, and enthusiastic commitment.
Students gave methods that would help them and other fellow students gain more knowledge about alcohol. High school is another home for students. Students are at school more than they are home. Teachers, principles, coaches, and facility become family. The school system has a great impact on each and every student. Programs for High School students should be taken into consideration. Alcohol plays a big role in students’ performance. Wesley A. Austin, author of “The Effects of Alcohol Use on High School Absenteeism”, stated, Results show that liquor use expands non-attendance among secondary school understudies which could effectively affect instructive results.
Schools do not educate students about alcohol but they expect them to not consume it. High Schools should take the opportunity to better our society. Society has a major problem with deaths occurring due to alcohol in the United States. For example, car accidents are very common among intoxicated teens. Eaton Danice, author of the “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance-United States”, stated, “many high school students engaged in behaviors that increased their likelihood of death from these 4 causes: 9. 9% had driven a car or other vehicle when they had been drinking alcohol, 18. 5% had carried a weapon, 43. 3% had drunk alcohol, and 20. 2% had used marijuana.
Driving is already a great risk for teenagers because young people are not experienced when it comes to driving, let alone drunk driving. Drinking degrades the safety of roads/highways. Two thousand teenagers are killed every year due to drinking and driving. That is a life taken away every twenty-two seconds. Drunk driving does not only affect the drunk driver but it also affects the lives of innocent children, parents, newborns, elders, and animals. The effects of alcohol on the body are unbelievable. Alcohol leads to various diseases such as cancer, blood pressure, kidney disease, heart disease, and stokes. These diseases could eventually lead to death over time. Teens who are exposed to alcoholic beverages from a younger age have a higher chance of becoming alcoholics. Numerous parents and other adults drink alcohol while eating out or during events. This makes alcoholic beverages seem harmless to the younger generation. Amin Gopal, author of “National Cancer Societies and Their Public Statements on Alcohol Consumption and Cancer Risk” stated, that researches demonstrated the use of alcoholic beverages as a dangerous hazard for oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, esophageal, liver, colon, rectal and bosom malignant growth.
The Teen Study stated, that “One study by the University of Washington found that people who regularly had five or more drinks in a row starting at age 13 were much more likely to be overweight or have high blood pressure by age 24 than their nondrinking peers. People who continue drinking heavily well into adulthood risk damaging their organs, such as the liver, heart, and brain”. The economic impact of underage drinking by minors may have direct and long term economic impact. Drugs are misused due to the lack of education provided to students. High Schools need to promote a healthy lifestyle and should aim to provide students with tools and strategies to prevent drinking.
High Schools do not show much interest in students’ health. They are not concerned about the percentage of students who are drinking on a regular basis. Hoover Adger Professor of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, stated: “Data from Monitoring the Future, an annual survey of youth in the United States, show that 71% of high school seniors reported some experience with alcohol in the past; 41% reported use in the last 30 days and, of great concern, 3% reported daily use. More than one-half (58%) of 10th-graders and more than one-third (36%) of 8th-graders report having consumed alcohol at some point in their lives, and more than one-third of 10th-graders (37%) and one of six 8th-graders (16%) report having been drunk in the past. ”
High school students do not know what they are getting themselves into because they have not been educated about alcoholic beverages. There are controversies about teaching alcoholic beverages because Americans ways of thinking and values are different. The role of information and knowledge on the risk of alcohol use may be regarded as a part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the harms of alcohol consumption. Stigler Melissa, an assistant professor stated, “Rates of initiation of drinking rise rapidly starting at age 10 (i. e. , grades 4 and 5) and peak between ages 13 and 14 (i. e. , grades 8 and 9). At that point, more than 50 percent of adolescents report ever having consumed alcohol in their lifetime.
One of the best ways that High Schools could prevent drinking is to build drug-related programs. Although parents do play a big role in this topic, some students do not have educated parents. Activities to help students interact and understand the risks of drugs will help them in the future. School education concerning alcohol is a must in every aspect of life. Students need to understand the risks that they are taking when they consume a drug. Understanding the tools and strategies of alcohol will help students in the future. High schools should build programs to help prevent, accidents, health problems, and bad school performance. This would make the society of today a little better.
