Essay On The Consequences Of Lowering The Drinking Age

Consequences of Lowering the Drinking Age
Underage drinking is a very common topic and a very dangerous activity to take part in. I personally feel that underage drinking is one of those thing I strongly advise people, especially teenagers against doing. Mainly because there are underlying health risks, behavioral problems, addictions, and deaths associated with drinking period let alone being underage.
First off drinking deteriorates your organs and compromises your state of health. Some of those health risks consist of cirrhosis of the liver, and heart disease. In Teen Alcoholism it states that “after prolonged or heavy drinking” you begin to “suffer from a hangover”. “A hangover indicates alcohol withdrawal, as the body and brain cells that had adjusted to the presence of alcohol try to adapt to

its absence”. Blackouts are another issue that affects the brain also. “This dangerous condition is likely due to alcohol completely shutting down the hippocampus, a deep structure in the brain that is key to learning and memory”. Young people have a lot to worry about when it comes to brain function. Teenagers who drink heavily may lose as much as 10 percent of their mental capacity”. While some teens may believe that drinking betters their social status among their peers; in the end your social life slowly starts to wither away with the more frequent use of alcohol over time.
When alcohol consumption becomes a daily activity you seem not to be able to function without, you have most likely built a tolerance which turns to addiction.

Alcohol addiction is a very profound problem that has the ability to cause a ripple effect on other aspects of your life. Alcohol addiction is a chronic disease in which your body and mind become dependent on alcohol. Alcoholism is very serious because it ruins not only your life but your family’s life, and also your work life. People that love you are basically watching you poison yourself to death with alcohol. It puts a strain on your feelings, communication, and your relationship with others. The long drunken nights and hungover mornings can cause you to start being late to which and eventually not coming in at all. You may be tired and irritable, which is not suitable within the workplace. That can all create a situation where you lose you job and that can lead you becoming depressed. While you addiction may have started off with just alcohol, it can easily lead to other much harder drugs. For example, cocaine, marijuana, or other things such as ecstasy, and PCP are all deadly and strongly addicting

drugs.
Underaged drinking can also cause you to do irresponsible and life threatening things like driving while under the influence, or even suicide. Another thing that drinking can lead to hallucination or impair your vision and motor skills. Driving while drinking is not a very smart idea because it can cause you to get into a deadly automobile crash killing not only you but the other/s involved. Now you have affected the lives of not only your family but the family of a complete stranger that you didn't know and that was an innocent and oblivious to the situation they were going to face because of you. There is an “estimated 75,000 or more total deaths in the united states annually”. “Most of the increase in deaths resulted from poisonings attributed to alcohol mixed with other substances, including opioids and other narcotics”. That just goes to show you that alcohol is nothing to take lightly. People are losing their lives everyday over irresponsible and immature teens. Even if you are not the one driving, the person you are with may have been. You just shouldn’t be drinking as an adolescent age period.