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Underage Drinking

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Submitted By juniorsalas
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Underage drinking is becoming more of a noticeable problem in society, not only with high school students, but also with younger generations. Drinking is all over the television, the radio, and talked about in schools, public places, etc. Alcohol advertisements are more and more appealing to younger generations. If our youth is educated at a younger age, if school policies were stricter, and if clubs and bars cracked down on underage drinking the problem would not be as serious. Youth should be well educated about consumption of alcohol well before middle school. By the time students reach middle school they are already exposed to alcohol. D.A.R.E, the program that teaches children about alcohol and its effects, should be taught in elementary school. According to underagedrinking.samhsa.gov, over 70% of eighth graders said alcohol is easy to get 30% of children age 12-14 get alcohol from a family member. These statistics show that drinking is very popular in middle school. It seems as though these kids already know what they are doing by eighth grade, so D.A.R.E classes must be taught at an earlier age. Another reason classes should be taught earlier is from my own personal experience. High school football games should be a memorable part of their high school career. Instead of innocent cheering and fun at the games the young students show up intoxicated with the smell of alcohol on their breath. Now a day, children find it harder to enjoy things sober. To support my own personal experience I decided to interview an actual student from Mahtomedi High School. When asked how many of her friends drink she replied with, “Almost all of my friends drink almost every weekend, with an exception of 3 or 4 of my close friends.” When asked what her views on drinking she said, “Drinking makes people do things that they wouldn’t regularly do, and my friends use that as an

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