Each week, thousands of teenagers across the country wait eagerly for the impending weekend and its booze-oriented activities. Whether a form of escapism, celebration, peer-pressure or for any other reason, underage youth are consuming alcohol at an alarming rate. Alcohol consumption amongst teens is having severe and even deadly consequences for those who partake as well as their families and friends. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (as cited by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) every year, an average of 4,358 young people under the age of 21 are killed in various ways where alcohol is involved. The choice to drink, as an adolescent, not only puts the drinker at risk of serious physical and …show more content…
Some short, optional classes provide little information about the risks of underage drinking. Mandatory, full-semester courses should be provided to all youth across America. These classes should begin in middle school and should be repeated every other year until the student’s high school graduation. In these courses, students would learn about the dangers of drinking at an early age. Some of these dangers include physical harm, altered brain development, reduced academic performance, risky sex and even death (Federal Trade Commission). Teens should also be taught that by drinking alcohol, they are likely to begin engaging in other risky behavior such as smoking marijuana and taking other drugs. Another lesson that should be explained in the courses is how to not give in to peer pressure or why drinking is not “cool”. One fact that young people need to learn that could potentially discourage them from drinking is that “youth who start drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence or abuse later in life than those who begin drinking at or after age 21 years” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The key to decreasing underage drinking is to prevent it before it happens and education is the best way to do