AskEssays.com - Discover essay samples

Teenagers And Alcohol Do Not Mix

4.9 of 5.0 (160 reviews)

Contains
1320 words
Category
Legal Issues

Teenagers And Alcohol Do Not Mix Page 1
Teenagers And Alcohol Do Not Mix Page 2
Teenagers And Alcohol Do Not Mix Page 3
The above thumbnails are of reduced quality. To view the work in full quality, click download.

Teenage drinking is not only a burden on teenagers but on society as a whole. 'In 1997, 26 percent of 16-20 year old passenger vehicle drivers fatally injured in crashes had high blood concentrations (0.10 percent or more).' Teenage drivers that have BACs in the 0.05-0.10 range are a 18 times more likely (for males), and 54 times more likely (for females) than sober teens to kill someone after getting behind the wheel of a car. I don't know about you but I think those are some pretty scary stastics. There are many aspects to teenage drinking, such as: The dangers behind teenage drinking, The reasoning behind teenage drinking, Why some teens decide not to drink, The consequences that may come of teenage drinking, The long term effects of teenage drinking, and some of the ways there are to get help to stop drinking. Teenage drinking is a preventable problem that needs to be stopped. It causes nothing but pain, suffering, and misery.
Throughout the coarse of this paper I hope to voice my opinion on teenage drinking. I am just starting what are supposed to be the hardest years of my life and I think that teenage drinking is one of the biggest problems I will be faceing. Alcohol is a huge temptation that I myself have surcumbed to on a few occasions. I am not quite sure how many exactly but enough to present myself as a credibly witness to testify to the fact at hand. There are also a lot of things that I didn't know about alcohol that I learned from research.
I would like to start with a very simple question with a very complicated answer. Why do teenagers choose to drink? Well there are many reasons, one of which being just simply because everyone does it. In other words widespread indoctrination. Which is when for instance a teenager sees a person they look up to drinking such as a parent, teacher, or professional athlete drinking the see this and think it is acceptable behavior for them. They think that if so and so does it than so can I. They can see this type of example almost anywhere. Whether it be Stone Cold Steve Austin (a pro wrestler) slugging down a beer after kicking somebodys butt in a wrestling match or watching there own father drinking vodka stright from the bottle after a hard days work. These are examples of a teenager wanting to follow a role models lead and do just like they do.
Peer pressure is another huge reason why teens decide to drink. I conducted an interview with a fifteen year old intermediate school student who happens to be my brother. I asked him if he had ever drank before to which he responded yes. I than asked him why he choose to drink. He said that he and all his friends were going to a dance that night and a couple of his friends told him that they wanted to get drunk beforehand. He thought nothing of it, so him and his buddies got together before the dance and everyone started to drink. 'I felt left out, they were all having a blast and I was just sitting there watching' (said Brad) So he decided to join in the fun he took a few shots of vodka and started to feel the effects of alcohol. Peer pressure is a huge temptation that is very hard for a teen to turn down. The thought of not being accepted by a certain group of people is just to much for them to take. They end up doing something they do not want to do because some other group of people is doing it. People that are pressuring you to do something that you do not want to do are not worth listening to and definitely not worth risking your life for.

The effects of alcohol on the body and mind of a person are very severe and potentially deadly. When alcohol is consumed it then travles down the throat right into the stomach. A little of the alcohol, (depending on how much you drink), is absorbed right through the stomach wall and directly into the bloodstream. Than the rest of the alcohol goes through the stomach and right into the small intestine. This is where most of the alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream straight through the walls of the small intestine. The bloodstream transports the alcohol to all parts of the body like the liver, brain, and heart. The way the body gets rid of the alcohol is through a process called oxidation. As the blood carries around the alcohol it is carried around to all body parts. When the alcohol contaminated blood runs through the liver it slowly transforms the alcohol to water, carbon dioxide, and energy. The reason that alcohol can stay in you blood so long is that the liver can only oxidize about a half an ounce of alcohol per hour. While the liver is oxidizing slowly the excess alcohol keeps running through your bloodstream. Alcohol affects many organs but the most physically noticeable is the brain. As the alcohol goes through the brain it is effected in different ways for instance if a person was to have one to two drinks it will disable the outer layer of the brain. Three to four drinks affects the cerebrum which is in control of conscious reasoning skills. At this point the person begins to act clumsy and the BAC is 0.6 to 0.8 which in some states is considered drunk. When a person has five to seven drinks they then begin to affect the medullas ability to regulate involuntary responses, such as heart beating, breathing and the flow of digestive juices. When a person consumes eight to twelve drinks that amount of alcohol influences the cerebrum which is responsible for the control over skeletal muscles and balance skills. Now to put that into a real life hypothetical situation. John Doe goes to a party and starts to drink. After having one or two beers he is starting to feel pretty good and decides to do a little more socializing than normal. He is just going with the flow and having a good time. John keeps on drinking by this time he has reached his fourth beer. John now is noticeably clumsy and his reaction time is slowed. John just keeps on drinking and when he gets to 6 beers he is now legally drunk and the entire motor end of the brain get highly depressed. John is now staggering around and shouting loudly. He is now easily angered and gets mad at people for no reason. He just keeps drinking and soon finishes his whole twelve pack, now his BAC is through the roof at near 0.3, which is three times the legal limit. The effects that he is suffering at this point are sitting around in a drunken stupor. John has now stopped drinking and is lucky he did so. If he was to continue drinking he could have put himself in a come and maybe even drank himself to death. Now if that is not scary enough John could also done some stupid things that he would regret. He could have slept with someone who has a disease, made a fool of himself, or even drove. With all that in mind it leads me to the consequences of teenage drinking

There are many different consequences to teenage drinking, some of which are mild, and others that are very severe. One of the mildest consequences is the hangover, hangovers cause a lot of grief. Some of the symptoms of a hangover include: headache, thirst, fatigue, irritability or any combination there of. Hangovers can hurt you professionally also, they cause a lack of production at work or slacking off at school. They are just all around trouble. All of ...

You are currently seeing 50% of this paper.

You're seeing 1320 words of 2640.

Similar essays


Young Offenders

These days more and more young people are turning to crimes. These crimes are being committed by of all ages. The crimes they are committing are get even more and more serious and in the last five years the percentage of youngsters committing more crime has increase by more then 50%. Young offenders are committing these crimes because the know th...

50 reviews
Download
Innocence

People that are wrongly accused deserve a second chance. You have no chance at even winning the case if you didn't have the innocence project around. Why does this happen to people? Maybe they are at the wrong place at the wrong time. The innocence project provides DNA testing to prove that the accused is innocent. There were only 17 people who wer...

175 reviews
Download
Don't Talk To Cops

"GOOD MORNING! My name is investigator Holmes. Do you mind answering a few simple questions?" If you open your door one day and are greeted with those words, STOP AND THINK! Whether it is the local police or the FBI at your door, you have certain legal rights of which you ought to be aware before you proceed any further. In the first place,...

39 reviews
Download
George Washington And Thomas Jefferson Grew It, Why Can't We?

? Christopher Columbus sailed to America on ships rigged with it. Numerous farmers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it extensively in Colonial America. Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag out of it and the Declaration of Independence was written it. Believe it or not, Levi-Strauss constructed the first pair of jeans in...

12 reviews
Download
Gun Control: Against

The government has placed many gun control laws, but some of the laws were made to make the general public feel safer. For instance the government banned a handful of assault riffles when they are not even used for most gun related crimes. The government also administered another law called the Bradey Law. The Bradey Law makes a five day wa...

13 reviews
Download
Murder

"And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." (Genesis 4:8) Back in those days, was pretty clear cut. If you killed someone, it was called murder. Of course, if you had a reason, then it was justifiable. Back then, it was an eye for an eye...

163 reviews
Download
Capital Punishment

While some of my family members are for capital punishment, my view on it is very two sided. On one stance I believe that execution can be a very severe punishment. No matter how corrupt someone is, the finality in the punishment of death treats members of the human race as non humans or objects that can merely be discarded. I think it is psyc...

22 reviews
Download
Marijuana: Opponent's Factual Brief

OPPONENT'S BRIEF Factual Proposition: Consuming marijuana is detrimental to one's health. Definition of key terms: 1. Consumption= Smoking or eating marijuana. 2. Marijuana= Psychoactive mind altering substance, also known as cannabis. 3. Detrimental= Serious harm. Primary Inference: Smoking or eating marijuana is likely to create serious...

92 reviews
Download
Teen Violence And Its Causes

"Teens are violent, cold and unremorseful because their families neiborhoods and society are violent. Teens care so little about others because so little care has been shown them (MacDonald 1A)." Many children today in society contain hate and bitterness, and because of this do they become a problem. Many argue that children become what they bec...

171 reviews
Download
Legalizing Idustrial Hemp

Legalization of Industrial Hemp "Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere." (from sigity@hotmail.com) ---George Washington, 1794. You can eat it, for it has great cooking versatility and even more nutritional value than soybean foods. Doctors use its oil to boost your immune system and fight heart problems. You can wear i...

3 reviews
Download
Fixed Punishments

The issue of whether fixing punishment for each kind of crime or considering followed by different circumstances has been debated widely. It is said that blocking punishments would support the organizing law system, whereas others believe that following each case would have exact decisions and make more opportunities. This essay will analyze the is...

90 reviews
Download
Psilocybin Mushrooms As Hallucinogens

Psilocybin Mushrooms are an example of a hallucinogen. They were originally used during religious ceremonies of ancient indian tribes. This was done to expand their minds. Today, you could say that mushrooms are used to expand people's minds, but definitely in a different way. There are many effects of using Psilocybin Mushrooms. Some are posi...

62 reviews
Download
Gun Control

Since the days of the pioneers of the United States, firearms have been part of the American tradition as protection and a means of hunting or sport. As we near the end of the 20th century the use of guns has changed significantly. Because of fast and steady increase in crime and the fight for the right to own a hand gun, the introduction of...

90 reviews
Download
Should Steroids Be Banned From Society?

? It's amazing what athletes will do to achieve higher levels of performance and to get an edge on the rivaled competition. Often people do not realize the long term effects that result from the decisions they make early in life. This resembles the obvious phenomenon with steroids. Steroids became a spreading exposure to athletes in the Olympics...

202 reviews
Download
Atsisiųsti šį darbą