Just One More Drink Essay

Submitted By bsope25
Words: 2170
Pages: 9

Just One More Drink Drinking alcohol has become a worldwide phenomenon. People indulge themselves with drink after drink all the time. Some like to party and abuse alcohol that way. Others like to drink every now and then at a classy event of some sort. It all depends on the person drinking the alcohol. This person may be a forty five year old man or a fifteen year old girl in high school. Drinking alcohol varies from age to age. It can be abused many times or it can be handled in a mature manor. It is up to the person holding the drink to be responsible enough to understand the severity of the consequences that come along with drinking alcohol. Alcohol is something that is used mainly for recreational purposes. People do not understand that alcohol can be used as a weapon. When the wrong person drinks too much and decides to get into a car and drive, there is going to be a big problem. Alcohol is, and will continue to produce more and more tragic deaths because of the fact that people do not know how to control themselves under certain circumstances. This is a main reason why the drinking age should remain the same as it is now, because teenagers are not mature enough to understand the severity of the consequences they may face when it comes to drinking alcohol. Unfortunately, in the United States, many people fall victimized to alcohol-related deaths. America is polluted with these tragic stories of people dying every day because of something to do with alcohol. Whether it be drunk drivers, alcohol poisoning, or any other crazy story out there, drinking alcohol does not solve any problems. With all the negativity that comes from drinking alcohol in general, not many people are going to stand up and support the lowering of the drinking age. It is hard to believe that anyone would support the legality of teenagers being able to drink. Even though many teenagers throughout the United States drink today illegally, it is still hard to see the government passing a law that states that the legal drinking age is eighteen. It is also hard to believe that lowering the drinking age would make our country a safer place. Allowing teenagers to drink legally could lead to even more tragic deaths. There just does not seem to be a positive point made about lowering the drinking age. Furthermore, thousands of families are ripped apart by the loss of a loved one due to an alcohol related incident. It continues to happen in the United States. Drunk driving incidents constantly bring tragic deaths upon innocent families. People tend to take life for granted a lot and don’t understand that it can all be taken away from them in one second. Immature decisions lead to harsh consequences. “An average of 11 American teens die each day from alcohol-related crashes (Voas 381).” It seems as though death revolves around alcohol. As tough as that is to say, it is quite the truth. “Underage drinking leads to increased teen pregnancy, violent crime, sexual assault, and huge costs to our communities (Voas 381).” So many negatives build up when it comes to underage drinking. Teenagers should not fall victimized to underage drinking. Some teens are mature enough to handle the situations that come with drinking. But a majority are nowhere near mature enough. Moreover, people don’t seem to understand the facts. These facts clearly reassure that the drinking age should not be lowered for any reason. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that in 1982, 43 percent of underage drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking (Glasser 374).” This fact shows that before the drinking age was raised to twenty-one, many people were involved in tragic car accidents. People seem to be pretty irresponsible when it comes to drinking alcohol. “A NHTSA study found that the new law not only reduced drinking and driving but reduced ‘youth drinking directly’ (Glasser 374).” With the creation of the new law that raised the drinking age to