Underage Drinking

Nowadays, underage drinking touches more adolescents than previously thought. More and more teenagers start drinking, sometimes as early as twelve years old, because of peer pressure, appealing advertising, the desire to fit in or simply a way to party. This phenomenon is not only causing damage to young people’s brains, but also kills them, especially in traffic accidents. One of the main reasons for that to happen is advertising: alcohol brands target adolescents or young adults, mostly the “college crowd”. They are present on campuses, at collegiate sports events and even sponsor colleges in some cases. To stop underage drinking, it is crucial to restrict alcoholic beverages advertising and limit possibilities for alcohol brands to reach and get their message across to young people.

The issue of underage drinking expends every day and our children might become the victim of it. Underage drinking is defined as the consumption of alcoholic beverages under the age of 21, which is the minimum legal age for buying and drinking alcohol in the United

States. As high school students, we all have seen or even experienced alcohol even though we haven’t reached the minimum age yet; a survey revealed that 36% of high school graduates began using alcohol in 8th grade or earlier (Davis). Alcohol is the cause of numerous traffic accidents that several times lead to deaths, but it also causes damage to adolescents’ brains and its development (Suriano), and leads, in several cases, to academic failure; alcohol is linked to 1400 deaths, 500000 injuries and 70000 sexual assaults on college campuses nationwide (“Would an Age 18 Minimum Curb Alcohol Abuse”). This phenomenon touches a lot of young people: 70% of college students drink and about 40% binge drink (drink 5 or more alcoholic beverages in one night) which is enormous considering that about half of the college population is under the age of 21 (Califano). Too often, we see teenagers and young adults dying because of alcohol, in consequence, it is necessary to stop underage drinking to protect the next generations.

The principal target for alcohol brands is young people, especially college students. The problem is that only about half of that pool has reached the minimum age required to drink alcohol. The proof is that brewers sponsor colleges and universities and contribute greatly in the school’s athletic budgets (Wieberg). That is one of the reasons why alcohol is so abundant on college campuses, especially at sports events. In consequence, it is necessary to restrict alcohol advertising that reaches potential underage drinkers (Clayton), ban alcohol advertisements on college campuses, including sports events (Wieberg), require high school and college students to attend classes about the dangers of alcohol abuse and its consequences on one’s health, have a better law enforcement because the law is inadequate and ineffective (Davis), tougher outcomes for adults or businesses that supply alcohol to underage drinkers, make the parents more responsible (Cox), raise the minimum age for drinking, ban totally alcohol among all categories of age, but the most important is for parents to communicate with their children to warn them about alcohol abuse. All those are possible solutions that might help solving the problem of underage drinking, although, some of them are not realistic and it is necessary to consider everyone’s opinion and beliefs to choose the solution that fits best for our society.

The most viable solutions are restricting alcohol advertising, ban alcohol advertising from college campuses, including stadiums and arenas for sports events, education about alcohol in schools, and stronger law enforcement. These solutions leave alcohol available to legal drinkers but limit the availability of alcohol around educational institutions and do not encourage adolescents and young adults to drink.

On the other hand, rising the minimum age for drinking or banning alcohol completely are not realistic solutions in my opinion. Earlier in American History, the Prohibition created great conflicts in the United States and led to a situation close to chaos. These solutions would make legal drinkers upset and the least available alcohol is, the most underage drinkers will break the law to obtain alcohol and consume it. Drinkers and parents have to take responsibility in the way they drink and prevent adolescents from drinking alcohol.

The implementation of the solutions proposed would be in several steps, but basically, colleges should end all sponsorships by any alcohol-related company: even though, it brings money in athletic budgets towards scholarships, it is the right thing to do to protect the student body. Also, alcohol advertising should be ban on any school campus: because advertising focuses on students (Clayton),