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Teen Drinking

The Facts on Teen Drinking
Eighteen-year of Scott Krueger of Orchard Park, N.Y. was a bright student, graduating near the top of his high school class. In 1997, he was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge. Mass., one of the country's most prestigious colleges. Like many other college freshman. Krueger pledged into a fraternity where drinking massive amounts of alcohol was considered a rite of passage. During a party in late September 1997, he passed out from an alcohol overdose, which prevented oxygen from getting to his brain, and slipped into a coma. Krueger never regain consciousness and died three days later.(2facts)

Alcohol abuse among teens has grown over the past several years. However this is not a reason to lower the legal drinking age. A cause of tragic overdoses is due to binge drinking. Binge drinking is consuming large amounts of alcohol quickly. This may cause damage to the body. This is very popular among college fraternities.

Tragically teen drinking leads to many problems. On average 80.4% of teenagers have tried an alcoholic beverage, this is a very large portion of the teen age population. (dianedew.com) Also about 17,000 people die each year from alcohol related traffic accidents. Over 1,000,000 others are injured. (2 Facts) That is a large number of individuals who suffer from the effects of alcohol.

Many individuals have tried alcohol before they turn 18. This is why many people feel that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. Many of them also feel that since you are able to enlist in the military and serve our country in war, is a reason to lower the drinking age also. However many don't understand the complications that maybe involved with the lower drinking age. Many peoples' digestion system is not able to break down as much alcohol in their system when they are under the age of 21. This can cause liver problems in a teenager or a young adult. (apa.org) Liver...