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Under Age Madness

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Underage madness Have you ever been to a liquor store and you are on your way to a wonderful evening of relaxation, then out of nowhere you are bombarded by a complete stranger asking you to buy them a beer? I know I have, my initial response to that individual would be “might I ask how old you are?” Then from this point you might hear a series of excuses or lies about the situation until they realize that they are getting nowhere with you and move on to the next target. What did you do in this case? Did you attempt to scare that individual, or did you just mosey on about your business? According to the CDC 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States is consumed by children and young adults between the ages of 12-20. More than 90 percent of this alcohol is consumed in the form of binge drinking. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, about 5,000 kids under 21 die every year as a result of underage drinking – from crashes, homicides, and suicides. Teens that drink also are at risk for a long list of other injuries and potential life-long alcohol abuse. Reducing underage drinking can reduce drinking-related harm This problem is important to not only me as a parent but also to you as a driver on the street. Underage drinking is a rapidly growing problem that causes homicides, suicides and public intoxication. We need to put into play harsher punishments for underage drinking and aiding in underage drinking in order to prevent this problem from spreading. We can enforce harsher laws by increasing the punishment for underage drinking, increasing the punishment for aiding in underage drinking and making underage drinkers take mandatory class of the effects of underage drinking. Underage drinking causes many lives to be ruined. According to the CDC in 2008 over 190,000 visits were made to the emergency room as a cause of underage drinking related issues. Teen drinking and driving is one of the top causes of death. How many times have you been reading an article in the newspaper or watching the news and what you hear is that another life is lost tragically due to underage drinking? Today 8 teens died today from driving drunk. That could be your daughter or son. How many lives will have to be lost in order for this country to take this problem seriously? Teenage drinkers put not only themselves at risk but they also put everyone else around them at risk as well. Teenagers do not have fully developed bodies and they are not fully capable of consuming alcohol in large quantities. They may get drunk faster than adults would. Also the judgment that a teenager has is already significantly lower compared to that of an average adult. That being said a teenager who has consumed over the legal limit is more likely to behave in an inappropriate manner. They may play harmless pranks such as peeing on your doorstep, or they may take it to another extreme and rob someone, rape someone or even kill someone while under the influence of alcohol. These are all reasons that we need to take a stand and help save lives. If this problem continues to be ignored than we are going to have an increasing rate of fatal car crashes, an increased rate of crime, and more lives lost to the addition. In order to stop the underage madness we need to enforce stricter laws when it comes to underage drinking. The government should increase the punishment for the initial time the law is broken to show underage drinkers that this is not an issue that is taken lightly. When they drink and drive or when they are publically intoxicated they potentially hold hundreds of lives in their hands. They are able to take away the life of another and not really even mean to. I believe that the first time someone it caught drinking that they should be sentenced to 30 days in Jail and 200 hours of community service. The 30 days in Jail would be a way to open up their eyes and see into their future if they chose to continue down the same path that they are on. Life in prison is not a place that anyone wants to be. 200 hours of community service is not only to show the offender the pain of breaking the law, it also help keep the offender on the path of staying out of trouble and prevents them from going back to their old ways. The community service should be relevant to the crime. They should have to work at a homeless shelter where they are able to see what drinking can lead to. Community service is also a punishment for the parents. It will require the parents to play a more active role in their children’s lives and it will cause the parents to pay closer attention to where their children are at all times. This would help in preventing the same problem from occurring again. These laws may be harsh laws but it is what is needed to ensure your own safety. Making stricter laws for the people who are caught purchasing alcohol for a minor would also diminish the amount of underage drinking. Currently if you purchase liquor for a minor all that happens is you might have to pay fines, you could lose your driving privileges, and it will go on your record. These punishments do not hold enough severity for people to take them seriously. In order to nip this problem in the bud we have to show people that when it comes to keeping our city safe we mean business. This means increasing the punishment. Just as a drunk driver would go to jail, so should the person who contributes to intoxication of a minor. People who purchase liquor for a minor should even be held more accountable for their action as they are adults contributing to children. Children understand that it is wrong to attempt to purchase alcohol, however adults are supposed to be mature enough to abide by the rules and decline. If everyone would uphold the law then this problem would not even exist. If convicted people should have to serve the same punishment as an underage drinker would. They should have to do community service. This would show the person that although you were being the “cool person” by purchasing alcohol for a minor, now you have to take additional time out of your day to go provide a service to another person or community. This would cause that person to think long and hard before doing it again. Some may say that this is unjust and that they were solely a bystander. This is not the case. Without an adult to purchase liquor how would a minor be able to get intoxicated to the point of drinking and driving? In Virginia we have seen the effects of promising jail time for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The rates are slowly decreasing and there are fewer cases of underage drunk drivers. Enforcing stricter laws will keep people from making poor decisions when it comes to helping a young adult get drunk. By implementing these laws a person under the age of 18 will be less likely to have the desire to drink. Knowing all that they could lose from making a decision before they are ready will keep them from drinking. As for those people who would like to contribute to minor drinking enforcing stricter laws would cause those people to carefully examine all aspects of what they are doing. They do not want to be punished for a crime that they did not even enjoy. This is why this solution would be one of the most effective choices. Underage drinking in a major problem in today’s society that is rapidly increasing. It is up to you and me to make our city’s street safer to drive down. The next news headline that could broadcast about another death due to drunk drivers who are under the age could be about you or your children. Help save a life today, help save your family. By creating stricter punishments we will be able to diminish the amount of teenage drivers in the street. We will also cut down on people purchasing alcohol for minors. You can make the difference by reporting it to the police when a minor has propositioned you to purchase alcohol for them. If you see the exchange of alcohol between a minor and an adult, report it. Do not let this issue slide until it becomes an epidemic. We can solve this problem while it is still relatively manageable. We can make the difference. All that we need from you is a little bit of empathy for your neighbors and fellow American’s.

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