Alcohol Legal Age - Assignment Example

Running Head: Alcohol Legal Age Instructor Institution Date For a very long time, alcohol has brought tremendous issues to the lives of you people, who in many cases are students in high school or even in institutions of higher learning due to availability of alcohol and the legality of the same in regard to their age (McPherson, . 2005). As it stands currently, the legal drinking age at 18 means that there are high chances of underage drunkenness, injury, rape and even school problems due to alcohol. This being the case, drinking age should be increased from 18 years to 21 years if at all the social, health and emotional problems which are associated with alcohol abuse have to be curbed. The age limit for alcohol should be enacted and be strong adhered to for research shows that, young people react differently to alcohol; teenagers for instance get drunk twice as fast as adults, and have more trouble when trying to stop this habit (Bishop, 2006). There are also high tendencies that, teens overdo it and binge more that adults do. Moreover, adolescents are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol on learning and memory and it has been proven that, a delay in alcohol consumption reduces in a big way the risk of harming the developing brain, for this developmental process continues up to early 20s (Ward et al, 2006). In other words, it is worth noting that, the hippocampus which accommodates different types of memory and learning is the part of the brain which is prone to much destruction due to early exposure to alcohol If the drinking age is increased to 21 years, there are high chances that there will be e reduced risk of developing alcohol dependence or abuse later in life. When drinking age is raised to 21 years, there are high probabilities that the kind of fatal accidents involving young drivers (Williams, McDermitt & Bertrand, 2003). This will in the long run save the lives of many as well as lower the amount of money spent on hospitals, on accidents associated to alcoholism. Moreover, early exposure to alcohol has seen the society suffer from juvenile crimes , traffic safety, attempted suicide, injuries inflicted by other persons, hospital admissions for non traffic accidents, just to mention but a few. This calls for a legislation that will control alcohol consumption of young people, and thus increase safety in the society (Ward et al, 2006). In addition to health issues, consumption of alcohol by those younger than 21 years is marred by various issues that are uncomfortable to the society. There are substantial social consequences which are suffered by both the drinker and others in the community (Williams, McDermitt & Bertrand, 2003). For instance, alcoholism may result to harm to family members, friends, colleagues or even to bystanders and strangers. Alcohol related disturbances and assaults range from minor acts of vandalism or offensive behavior to even more serious and deep antisocial behavior which can result to affront and injury to others (Ward et al, 2006). This is the long run increased the government expenditure on hospital expenses, of issues caused by alcohol consumption. To control this, then there must be a change in the drinking age policy, whereby it must be increased to 21 years. There is a very close correlation of alcohol and crime. This being the case, there are high chances that, if the drinking age continue to be 18 years, there are high chances that controlling crimes related to alcohol may never be realized (Bishop, 2006). It is a matter of fact that, youths who are heavy drinkers when they are 18 years, record the highest number that is prone to delinquent behaviors. In other words, they are very likely to be engaged in these delinquent behaviors like stealing, fighting, selling illegal drugs and even carrying handgun. To lower this menace, then there is a need to have the drinking age increased to 21 years. Even though they will not be all dealt with completely, there are chances that they will be controlled and maintained at a manageable level There has been an increase in the role of illicit drugs in adolescent culture. Study shows that, these teens are more likely to use illicit drugs when drunk for in many cases, the environment where they consume alcohol is even more conducive to the use of these drugs (Bishop, 2006). Adolescents perceive that alcohol removes their inhibition and alters their judgment and these are factors which make them more susceptible to experimenting hard drugs. To bring this to a manageable situation, then the age that is related to drinking must be increased. Parents can play a very vital role in shaping the perception of the use towards early exposure to alcoholism (Williams, McDermitt & Bertrand, 2003). However, there has been a growing reluctant acceptance of underage drinking by parents. Parents do acknowledge that, binge drinking is common among the underage and this is mostly attributed to the fact that they feel that nothing can really be done about this habits (Williams & Hine, 2002). They therefore feel powerless and overwhelmed by the whole scenario. The only way out in such situation is legislation. Having a strict drinking age control, will see underage drinking control a success in the whole of Australia. When individuals are exposed to alcohol at an early age, there are high chances that their immunity will be affected (Bishop, 2006). It is unanimously believed that, alcohol is both the incidence of disease and the course of disease. The impact of alcohol consumption on diseases and injury is associated with two but closely correlated dimensions of drinking individuals. International Classification of Diseases includes alcohol as a cause to diseases and Alcohol Use Disorder. Alcohol consumption is associated with disease like injuries which may be intentional or unintentional, cardiovascular diseases and many others (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008). This is mostly attributed to the fact that, alcohol adds toxic effects on organs and tissues, impacts on health and morality especially when one consumes home made alcohols which have methanol or even lead. Neuropsychiatric disorder, gastrointestinal consumption, cancer are some of the diseases that alcoholism causes, when controlled by increasing drinking age to 21, these epidemics will be lowered at a high rate. For a long time, the guidelines in Australia have been concentrated on having healthy adults and not healthy adolescents. This being the case, their physical immaturity and inexperience in alcohol makes the young people more prone to the harmful effects of alcohol than adults. This therefore entails that, for the same dose, much effects are going to be experienced in an adolescent than it is going to be when used by an adult. NDSHS reports that, alcohol is the second largest cause of drug related deaths and hospitalization ( AIHW 2006), where by, teenagers have put themselves at risk of alcohol ranging at an approximation of 34.4%. This in the end will result to a generation with memory lapse and declines further as they age (AIHW 2006). Measures of potential years of life (PYLL) have been used to measure the mortality burden of various causes of death. It is also used to measure the gap in year between deaths and some primary arbitrary standard age before which death is considered premature. It has been found that, deaths caused by alcohol consumption contribute in a big way to PYLL in Australia (National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), 2001). Many premature deaths in young people have been recorded, which are attributed to effects of alcohol. This in most cases is in form of road injuries, suicide, and assault and alcohol dependence. These detrimental occurrences can only be controlled by increasing the drinking age to 21 years. Societies are now populated with people with mental illnesses. For many years, it has been known that people with mental problems or even illness have a problem related to alcohol misuse by adolescents. Alcohol is a causal factor that has been attributed to a number of mental health conditions which include alcoholic psychosis, alcohol dependence syndrome and alcohol related dementia (Wood et al, 2004). Moreover, there is a close relationship between alcohol consumption and dependence with depression and anxiety. When this affects youths of less than 21 years, then their school life and experience are incapacitated, for many youths in this age are in schools. This being the case, the only way to bring law and order by increasing the years which one can get access to alcohol. Conclusively, there are very many issues which are associated with youths who are exposed to alcohol in an early age. This issues vary from social, economic and even health related which mean that if actions are not taken, many potential youths are going to have unproductive lives due to alcoholism. This therefore means that, there are need to change the legal drinking age from 18 years to 21 years, to bring sanity in the lives of the youths as well as helping them have a well laid foundation in their lives where they can think constructively as well as be productive. References Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2008. 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: first results. Drug Statistics Series No 20, cat.no. PHE 98. AIHW: Canberra, Australia. Available from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10579 (accessed May 2008). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). 2006. Australia’s health 2006. AIHW cat.no. AUS73. Canberra, Australia. Available from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/ title/10321#full_publication (accessed May 2008). Editor. 2008. Confronting the demon of under-age alcohol abuse. The Age, 12 March, p.16, Fairfax: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Bishop, Karin 2006, ‘Licence to drink’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4.5.06, p.4 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). 2001. Australian Alcohol Guidelines. Canberra, Australia. Available from:http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/ds9syn.htm (accessed May 2008). McPherson, A. 2005. Adolescents in primary care. British Medical Journal, 330(26):465-467. Ward, B., Snow, P., Munro, G., Graham, M. and Dickson-Swift, V. 2006. It starts with the parents and ends with the parents: the attitudes, knowledge and practices of metropolitan parents in relation to teenage alcohol use. Australasian College of Road Safety Journal, 17(3):20-28. Wood, M.E., Read, J.P., Mitchell, R.E. & Brand, N.H. (2004), “Do parents still matter? Parent and peer influences on alcohol involvement among recent high school graduates”, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 18, pp. 19-30. Williams, P.S. & Hine, D.W. (2002), “Parental behaviour and alcohol misuse among adolescents: A path analysis of mediating influences”, Australian Journal of Psychology, vol. 54, pp. 17-24. Williams, R.J., McDermitt, D.R. & Bertrand, L.D. (2003), “Parental awareness of adolescent substance use”, Addictive Behaviors, vol. 28, pp. 803-809. Read More