John was the kid in school everybody loved. Teachers, parents, students…they all loved him. He was tall and handsome. Quick to smile. He brimmed with confidence and enthusiasm, yet not a hint of arrogance alloyed his good nature. John was well-mannered, considerate, charming. He smiled sincerely. He was like a rare chemical element, fundamentally pure.
John could have been whatever he wanted to be when he grew up: a lawyer, a doctor, a college professor, an actor. His intelligence was that formidable; his personality that engaging; his popularity that prevailing. But this faired-haired wonder was more Achilles than Adonis. He had a fatal, if common flaw, among teens. John drank.
According to the latest research, teens who abuse alcohol are more likely to become alcoholics in adulthood. In a study conducted at Indiana University’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, “the key finding was that the more drinking-related problems experienced by an adolescent at age 18, the greater the likelihood that adolescent would be diagnosed with alcoholism seven years later at age 25.” In fact, young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin drinking at 21.5
While John could have been whatever he wanted to be when he grew up, research shows that he would likely have been an alcoholic. But we’ll never know. John died early one morning when his car careened off the road at 60 miles an hour and slammed into a tree. He was drunk.
Teenage Alcohol Abuse and its Ramifications
Alcohol is the most frequently abused drug used by teenagers in the United States. About half of all junior and senior high students admit drinking on a monthly basis. 14% claim to have been intoxicated within the past year, and 8% say they drink 5 or more drinks in a row which scientists specializing in addiction define as binge drinking.
Alcohol is a culprit in nearly half of all violent deaths involving teens. “Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings (1–5).”
Take its non-fatal impact into account, and alcohol causes even more damage to teens. Drinking impairs a teen’s attention span. Male teenagers who drink alcohol heavily usually finish fewer years of education compared with temperate male teens. Teens who abuse alcohol are also likely to abuse other illicit substances, most commonly marijuana.
Excess alcohol use can cause or mask other emotional problems, like anxiety or depression. Intoxication is a major risk factor associated with suicide attempts. And “teenagers who drink are more likely to engage in sexual activity, have unprotected sex, have sex with a stranger, or be the victim or perpetrator of a sexual assault.” http://www.medicinenet.com/alcohol_and_teens/article.htm
What approach should we take to curb the incidence of alcohol abuse?
With alcohol undeniably the greatest risk factor contributing to teen morbidity and mortality and the vast attendant social costs, it’s no wonder that governments have adopted legislation to try to curb “underage” drinking.
A primary focus of the assault has been to redefine the word “underage” by raising the legal drinking age to 21, now law in all fifty states. Groups such as MADD, the Mothers against Drunk Driving, estimate that such laws have saved 21,000 lives.
Mary Beth Griffin, a former interim director of the Orange County Chapter of MADD, maintains that setting the drinking age at 21 is not a matter of rights and responsibilities as the other side contends, but a matter of public safety. She cites recent research on adolescents to justify her organization’s view. The research suggests that adolescent brains do not mature fully until the age of 25 and that alcohol has a disproportionately deleterious effect on young minds. Government should not then sanction the use of alcohol by a group which would suffer and create greater harm because of its mental shortcomings.
Despite the compelling case that proponents of higher legal drinking age laws make, strong opposition has grown. Led by former Middlebury College President John McCardell, opponents argue that these measures have wreaked dire, unintended consequences on college campuses. Despite the higher legal age of drinking, they point out, binge drinking has flourished with thousands of students admitted to infirmaries and hospitals each year due to alcohol poisoning.
Opponents agree that raising the legal drinking age may keep a student out of a local tavern, but it won’t keep him from drinking. Prohibition failed. And raising the legal age of drinking has not curbed alcohol consumption, they avouch but instead has contributed to greater alcohol abuse. Students these days drink at “House Parties” on campus rather than at bars in town, easily circumventing underage drinking laws.
McCardell counters a key rationale underlying MADD’s support for higher legal drinking age laws, namely the research done on adolescent brains. Such research is in its early stages, he avers, and the studies were performed on rats. No conclusions for humans can be drawn from the studies.
He also cites Europe, where legal drinking ages tend to be 18 or younger, as an example of how policy changes can build healthier drinking cultures. “Prohibition doesn’t work” McCardell said in a recent interview. “Why not make it available earlier as a way of preparing young people to deal with alcohol responsibly?”
But comparisons with Europe provide ammunition for both sides. While a World Health Organization study in 2003 found that teens from southern European countries do appear to drink more responsibly than Americans, British teens do not. More freedom for British teens, it appears, has not bred responsible drinking habits. A study published earlier this year by the British government revealed that teens in Great Britain are drinking to get intoxicated at earlier and earlier ages. Four in 10 admit that they began drinking when they were 13 or younger.
What is all too often lost in the argument between advocates of greater restrictions on alcohol and those who promote a libertarian point of view is the one thing that both sides can agree on. A thorough and effective education on alcohol and the dangers of drinking done early can reduce the problems teens suffer with alcohol.
“Our best weapon against alcohol abuse and alcoholism is reason,” claims Mary Rieser, the Executive Director of the Narconon center in Georgia. “You build a child’s reasoning powers and protect him from the dangers inherent with alcohol through education. Teach him what alcohol is, what it does to his body and mind, and what consequences he will invariably face if he abuses alcohol. Only then will you truly make significant inroads on the epidemic of teen alcohol abuse. ”
Alcohol is inherently dangerous. Even small doses cause harm to body and mind. Instead of quibbling about what the “right” legal drinking age should be, wouldn’t it make more sense to educate our youth so they make the only intelligent decision about alcohol: to be temperate, if they choose to drink at all?
