In the years of the 1980’s an estimated 89.9 million which is 50% of U.S adults were ever smokers and 45.8% were current smokers. The amount of youth smokers decreased slightly from 1980 through 1984 and then increased through 1989, the largest annual increase occurred in 1988. The percent of teens that smoked
Australia has a well-known drinking culture, and for the most part it’s viewed in a positive light, however stories in ‘The Turning’ depict the negative aspect of such a culture. More than anything, drinking is portrayed as a coping mechanism. In ‘Sand’ Max’s reasons
Over this semester we have been learning about drug and how they affect the human body. Underage Drinking is a problem that affects Australia every day. Australia has strict laws to keep surrounding underage drinking, this is in place to keep teenagers safe. Teenagers will consume alcohol for many reasons these include, peer pressure, family attitudes /relationship, social status, for fun/pleasure, relax and to drown their problems, low self-esteem, and new experiences. There are some alarming statistics for underage drinking.
If a teenager is smoking, I can guess that it's from peer pressure and not a self made choice since smoking is an old trend brought back but on other forms like e-cigarettes and hookah. Peer pressure happens to everyone, we follow others without notice at times and that's comely
Congress and Presidents’ tried to prevent the abuse of alcoholism by passing a law (National Minimum Age Drinking Act) to lower the possibilities of having more accidents, but with the law being created more than a million teens around the world haven’t abided by this law. Imagine that you had a bottle of whiskey that contained seventy-five percent of alcohol and later on you were wasted trying to get to your vehicle so you can drive home, but you got caught driving drunk by a police officer. What could you have done to prevent that from happening? 1) Being responsible and 2) Have a designated driver that would drive you home and 3) Don’t drink at all! Overwhelming the results of seventy-seventy percent of the American public had disagreed with lowering the drinking age from twenty-one years old to a younger age.
When the government decided to lower their drinking age from 20 to 18 years old in 1999, they correctly predicted that there would not be an increase in alcohol abuse because many teenagers already drank alcohol they obtained illegally from adults (ICAP, 2002.) This supports the philosophy that it is better and healthier to allow young people to drink at a lower age so that their habits can be controlled, and that this can be done without increasing dangerous behavior. Statistics from around the world also suggest that a decreased legal drinking age creates healthier drinkers in the long run. A study on the percentage of people older than 15 years old with an alcohol use disorder reveals that 5.48% of Americans are affected, compared to 1.07% of people in Spain and 0.5% of people in Italy (WHO, 2004). Analyzing this data shows that the rate of alcoholism is significantly lower in countries including Spain and Italy where the drinking age is lower, likely because citizens drink responsibly throughout their entire lives.
Normalizing the drinking of alcohol results in increasing alcohol consumption among young people. As Australia has a strong drinking culture, youth drinking is a common social attitude to fit into the culture. According to The Cabin Sydney (2015), 42% of young adults claim that they do not need to show identification while buying alcoholic liquor and 38% report that they can easily get access to a bar or pub without presenting their proper identification to prove they are over the drinking age. This evidence shows that most of the people are not only accepted but also expected youth to drink. In addition, young people need to drink during special occasions.
In summary, we should raise the drinking age to 21 in Australia. If we were to raise the legal drinking age, we would be able to reduce lots of problems that we concerned
College presidents from more than 120 US universities are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 back down to 18. The group argues that the current laws actually encourage binge drinking on campus (“President 's Campaign”). The rise of the drinking age from 18 to 21 caused far more problems than it has solved in today 's society. Regardless, crimes are going to be committed, alcohol related or not, but controlling and monitoring it would decrease the crime rate, rather than teenagers drinking secretly, with little to no supervision at all. “ The 21 year drinking age has not reduced drinking on campuses, it has actually probably increased it” says Middlebury president John McCardell.
“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” A quote by Francis Scott. Alcohol is one of the most enjoyed drinks in Australia. But what is so good about it? Well most kid see their parents drinking at a young age and think that is what parents do for fun and most kids follow what their parents do and people’s brains don’t full grow until the age of 25.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism seems like an issue that keeps getting increasingly worse each year in the United States. According to USA Today and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both say that approximately 6 people die from alcohol poisoning, caused from binge drinking, each day, which amounts to roughly 2,200 people each year. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that “In 2013 an estimated 697,000 adolescents ages 12–17 (2.8 percent of this age group) had an [alcohol use disorder]” (“Alcohol Facts”). Something has to stop and something has to change from preventing this more because 6 people dying each day from binge drinking alone is a lot, not to mention that 12-17 year olds are having alcohol problems at such a young age. Lowering the drinking age will enforce this act even more, promoting more drinking in fact.
In Australia we all know that the legal age to drink alcohol is 18, but does that really stop underage drinking? Underage drinking is becoming a serious problem within Australia and although laws have been enforced there has still been an increase in teen drinking. Teenagers see drinking as a ‘night to have fun’ without realising how harmful it can actually be. Adolescents experiment with alcohol for a vast amount of different reasons, whether that is to fit in, because of depression/low self-esteem or just because they want to try it. Sometimes teenagers try it once or a few times and stop, whilst others grow a strong liking to it and continue, many of which drink heavily on a weekly basis.
A poll taken on July 2014 asked the public opinion of US adults for lowering the US legal drinking age from 21 to 18. Approximately 74% of the people opposed the idea, whereas roughly 25% of the people supported the idea ("Public Opinion" 1). The statistics indicate satisfaction among the majority of the people; however, with the current laws many issues arise that must be addressed concerning alcohol use. For starters, studies show an increase of dangerous drinking habits among young adults (Hall 2). In addition, the enforcement of the drinking laws and education on alcohol is insubstantial (Moyse, Fonder 3).
By the time they are high school seniors, seventy-two percent teenagers say they have already consumed alcohol. Proper education at younger ages is needed for our country’s youth to learn the proper use of alcohol through experimentation with their own limits in safe environments.
In Canada, the average cigarette consumption among daily smokers had dropped from 15 cigarettes per day (GPD) in 2012 to 13.9 GPD in 2013. From 1999 to 2013, cigarette consumption has declined significantly, by more than 3 cigarettes per day. And the yearly consumption during this time period kept decreasing by 1.3% averagely (Propel, 2015). According to the statistics conducted in 2013, “average daily cigarette consumption was 15.2 for male smokers and 12.5 for female smokers, which was a statistically significant difference” (Propel, 2015, p18). Between 2012 and 2013 consumption declined greatly among males but not females.
