7 Reasons Why We Should Stop Underage Drinking

Drinking has been a thing for a very long time, though the laws of drinking have been around for a while, people still don’t seem to follow them. Everyone feels like it's okay to drink no matter what their age is. They feel that it doesn’t matter. They just want to look cool and/or fit in with a group of people. This problem is mostly seen in underage kids who feel as though drinking is a thing to take lightly. However, in reality, it’s a thing we shouldn’t take so lightly. Though the process is being made to stop it, it still remains a big problem. Here are reasons why we should stop underage drinking:

1. Harm to the brain.

It has been long known that the brain grows constantly. Each time we learn a new thing our brain fills with knowledge. However, this is affected each time a person takes a drink of alcohol. It is widely known that alcohol clouds your judgment, but that’s not all that it does. Each time you have a drink it causes the signals between brain cells to stop. Over time, it causes the brain to adapt to these signals which cause damage to the brain cells. This can also cause pathway damage, brain shrinkage, problems with memory and verbal functions, and cognitive impairment/deficits.

2. Violent crimes.

Like stated before, when someone drinks our emotions are clouded, they become either too violent or too emotional. Because of the change in judgment, people tend to lash out easily at others which then induces fights, property crime, public offenses, assault and even homicide. Around 1.4 million crimes are caused by alcohol consumption each year. This number needs to go down, and a way to stop it is by stopping drinking way too much. Even more if someone is drinking at an early age. Their judgment isn’t fully matured yet, it can ruin both your life and someone else's, if you drink.

3. Abuse in the future.

As in movies, people tend to mentally and physically change while under the influence of alcohol, they become violent towards others, yelling, hitting, and abusing anyone that's in their path. It would be no different here. Teens have been shown to be more aggressive when it comes to drinking, and as they grow older, those tendencies don't seem to go down. Many people have reported that after a member in their family has consumed alcohol their personality changed negatively and drastically. When this happens, the one who consumes alcohol gets sent to jail, gets a restraining order, or gets ‘abandoned’ by their family.

4. Increases the probability of sexual assault.

Sexual assault is a big issue that has been occurring for ages. When people come out trying to talk about it, they almost always say that a leading benefactor of it is the consumption of alcohol. A friend of mine went through this at a party she went to, she stated that she was sexually assaulted by a person she knew after she drank a bit too much alcohol given by him. We need to show others that this can happen if alcohol is consumed heavily. Alcohol has a huge impact on our brain, it can cause individuals to commit crimes that could have been prevented without the consumption of alcohol.

5. Life-threatening illnesses.

Drinking too much can cause your immune system to weaken. When this happens we can get sicker easier, as well as making our body easier to affect. We are more vulnerable to heart/liver disease, strokes, high blood pressure and digestive problems. This happens because our red and white blood cells are weakened. We can stop these illnesses from affecting us and/or anyone we love if we stop excessive drinking. It has caused a lot of pain to people who have lost the ones they love to alcohol. I have felt it firsthand, and it's not something I wish on anyone.

6. Auto related accidents.

It’s always been said that drinking can lead to motorized accidents. Drinking causes you to become oblivious to your situations. With that, a person who is drinking and driving is more likely to get into an accident due to lack of focus on the road. After late night parties, teens will be drunk and want to go home. Most of the time teens decide to drive home, and it’s here where accidents occur. In most cases, teens who have gotten into an accident either get severely injured or someone else is severely injured. People have lost enough to drinking, why add more to other people by drinking and driving.

7. Addiction of other substances

Addiction is a horrible thing to have, not just with alcohol but with other substances as well. Someone who is addicted to other substances as well as alcohol is known to want a more addictive feeling which is called Cross fade. A cross fade is the idea of doing two or more substances at the same time to get both drunk and high. However, sometimes people get used to the effects of alcohol and in turn try to get into other substances to get the same feeling as before, and will do whatever it takes to get it. This can lead to many health problems.

Conclusion

Underage drinking has affected many people in many ways, yet we don’t seem to do much about it. This is a really important topic that we need to focus and work on. I wish that I would have paid attention to this topic earlier. If I had been paying attention, maybe I would have been able to help those who needed help, and I wouldn’t have had to see those who I knew and loved spiral downward into addiction and illnesses. We can help stop this, we first need to stop with the younger generation, help them realize that underage drinking isn’t the correct thing to do. We can do it.

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