Underage Drinking and DUI Problem in Horry County - Research Paper Example

? Underage Drinking and DUI Problem in Horry County, South Carolina Underage Drinking andDUI Problem in Horry County, South Carolina Minors in possession of alcoholic drinks and driving under the influence (DUI) is often observed in the Conway and along the coasts of Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach, which are the three major cities of the Horry County, South Carolina. Myrtle Beach is considered as one of the most popular and major tourist destinations in south east region of United States. Every summer around 14 million visitors come to Myrtle Beach to enjoy their vacations. Students from the nearby colleges and universities come here to enjoy their spring breaks. Due to its tourism, Myrtle Beach is surrounded by various bars and nightclubs that serve the summer tourism crowd with alcoholic drinks. Due to these reasons, minors and students in Horry County are severely attracted to drinking and the problem of underage drinking has strikingly risen in the past few years. This has also led to increase in the number of driving under the influence charges, both by minors and adults. This research paper attempts to analyze the problem of underage drinking and DUI in Horry County, including its severity, consequences and its connection with being a “social problem”; then the problem is analyzed with respect to the traditional sociological theories; the paper also attempts to shed light on the most recent trends in statistics with facts and figures on national and state level; finally we discuss what social policies and laws exist to minimize the problem of underage drinking and what solutions are available to eliminate the problem. Evolution of Underage Drinking Issue as a Problem If we look back, the problem of underage drinking and driving under influence is not a problem that originated yesterday; the roots go as far back as 1970s. Even in 70s there used to be parties where alcohol was served and even minors used to get drinks from the bars. So it isn’t a new problem, it’s a very old problem, and since minors caught buying, consuming or in possession of alcohol can be charged under Minor in Possession of Alcohol Act under S.C. Law, it has always been a challenge for teenagers to consume alcoholic drinks. So it has been a problem for many years and you cannot solely blame either the parents or the kids. There are several causes for underage drinking and so there are various solutions to this problem. Recently underage drinking has become a growing concern for the authorities in Horry County. Due to the are being touristy and the presence of several bars and nightclubs, alcohol has been a center of attention and a source of attraction for the minors and students living in Horry County. There are several bars around the Coastal Carolina University in Conway. These bars are often occupied by several minor students, including those who are out of town. Law enforcement agencies are often seen patrolling these bars around the Myrtle Beach looking for minors who are below the age of drinking. Students, especially those from out of town, often get arrested for the same reasons. For the abovementioned reasons, a team of local agencies has recently been assembled to take down the underage drinkers off of Horry County streets. This team is called CAST, which stands for Community Action for a Safer Tomorrow. CAST is discussed in detail later in this research paper. After CAST was appointed, it believed that the problem of underage teenagers driving under the influence was growing in Horry County. Several steps were then taken by the CAST to minimize the number of accidents and to get rid of underage drinking (Smith, 2012). Looking from underage drinking and DUI as a social proble” perspective, we can say that a social problem is a condition or situation that deviates from the prescribed set of ideals and values of society, and which threatens the achievement of collective goals of a society. Social problems are distinct from the individual problems because they are ‘systematic’ meaning that they infect our system by disorienting the values and personalities surrounding it. Social problems are also different from the economic problems, although social problems eventually have an impact on economy. So underage drinking can be considered a social problem due to its many consequences and negative impacts on our society and its moral values. Many teenagers claim that they wouldn’t drink alcohol only if they knew its adverse effects on their individual personality and social responsibility. So it is also very important to start awareness programs to warn teenagers and minors of the harms of drinking and driving under influence. A research has found that a young person who starts drinking at 15 years or younger are at least five times more likely in engage in binge drinking and develop alcohol dependence and abuse in their later life than the person who starts drinking at the age of 21. These young people consuming alcohol are highly likely to experience the following issues: 1. High absenteeism in school and falling grades. 2. Changes in behavior and social problem such as high aggressiveness, fighting and not engaging in other youth activities. 3. Being arrested for driving under influence and the possibility of hurting someone. 4. Adverse physical health due to illness and hangovers. 5. Unnecessary and unsafe sexual activity or even sexual abuse in the form of harassment and rape. 6. Drinking inhibits normal physical and sexual growth. 7. There is also a high risk of homicide and suicide. 8. Weakened memory and stress. 9. To engage in other drug activity and drug abuse. 10. Death due to poisoning from alcohol. Youths who engage in binge drinking are even more likely to experience the above-mentioned problems than those who do not engage in binge drinking. Due to these problems, which may adversely affect the society and individuals living in it, underage drinking is considered as a high form of offence and there are several laws and social policies to counteract the consequences. These are discussed in the next section. I being a student consider underage drinking a major problem for all the youths coming to my University, especially the out of town and out of state students who are not so aware of this growing problem. Analysis of the Problem Using Sociological Theory It appears as if the Structural Functionalism theory can best explain the problem and what its causes are. This theory attempts to see the society as a complex system whose parts interrelate and work together to promote solidarity. A society has its constituent elements, norms, behaviors, customs and traditions. These elements are often referred to as “organs”, which work towards the stable and proper functioning of the “body”. As such the main question this theory is looking to answer is “Why do people break rules?”. The breaking of rules (referred to as deviance) is abnormal for the social structure, and the major cause of this deviance is the displacement of goals in a society and the means to achieve them. Simply stated, people break rules when they cannot achieve their desired goals by the prescribed (and legal) means. Thus a youth visualizes drinking as something he cannot achieve by the legal means by complying with the acceptable rules of society. But he also has to fulfill this need as everyone else is allowed to drink and when the surrounding environment and culture are of such nature that everywhere around there are bars and nightclubs with easy availability of alcohol, the young person tries to break the rule by going against the law. This behavior is very common in human beings and can be readily seen in lower and working class of the society. When the young people see their environment where everyone is enjoying alcohol and drinking is seen as a symbol of joy they start to believe that drinking is very acceptable, and consequently busy themselves in such activities. According to a recent study by CAST, majority of youth in Horry County think that drinking is very much acceptable. The presence of lots of bars and nightclubs, coupled with joy, exotism and happiness often associated with the alcohol consumption, have made the youth of Horry County very much susceptible to drinking, and this is the reason why the number of drinking children in Horry County is very high. Current Statistics According to US Department of Health and Human Services, the use of alcohol is more prevalent among the teenagers than smoking cigarettes or using marijuana combined. In the past 40% of the high school seniors have been reported to be drinking alcohol and even more than one in every three have at some point engaged in binge (excessive) drinking. The following trends make it clear why underage drinking is one of the most serious health issues in the state of South Carolina. Around 69% of the students in 9th to 12th grade have tried alcohol. About 32% of the above students have engaged in drinking before the age of 13. Percentage of 9th to 12th graders in SC who consumed alcohol in last month is 35% Out of total alcohol consumption in South Carolina in 2007, youth consumed about 10% of the alcohol. High school students’ most popular drink of choice is liquor followed by Alco pops, Beers, and Wine. In the past month 1 in 10 high school students has driven a vehicle. The cost of underage drinking to the South Carolina State is about $1.1 billion per annum (allocated at $2428 per each young person living in the state) (SC, DAODAS, 2010) Following are some of the Data related to Driving under the Influence in the state of South Carolina compared to the national data, for the year 2010: » Total Alcohol Impaired Driving Fatalities (AIDF) in South Carolina: 357 US Total AIDF: 10228 » Under 21 age Alcohol Impaired Driving Fatalities (AIDF): 38 US Total under 21 ages AIDF: 1228 » In South Carolina the total number of AIDF per 100,000 population is 7.7 which is very high than the national average of 3.3 deaths per 100,000 population. » Total number of Under 18 AIDF is 2.9 per 100,000 population which is again higher than the national average of 1.4 deaths per 100,000. The arrest data for the South Carolina state is as follows: Under 18: Driving under the influence 122 Total: Driving under the influence 19245 Under 18: Liquor laws 726 Total: Liquor laws 9613 Under 18: Drunkenness** 115 Total: Drunkenness** 11706 Social Policy Under the South Carolina state laws, a person under the age of 21 years is considered to be a minor for drinking purposes or to consume or even possess intoxicating liquor and other alcoholic beverages. It is also illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you are found guilty of such an offence, you may have to bear a fine of $200 or more and also the loss of your driving license in South Carolina and your home state. The offence in this regard constitutes the following: Knowingly giving false information about your age in order to fraudulently purchase the alcoholic drinks. Selling “beer, ale, porter, wine or other similar malt or fermented beverage” drink to a person under 21 years of age. Purchasing alcohol on behalf of a minor or a person not fit for drinking (JusticeisLovely.com). The existence of these laws has made it possible to fight with underage drinking and this is the result why Under 21 drunk driving fatalities have reduced significantly in the United States during the last 20 years. This is demonstrated by the following graph. The number of drink driving deaths per 100,000 population has also decreased in US in the last 20 years as shown below. Horry CAST, Community Action for a Safe Tomorrow is the main and the most active group working to solve the problem and to increase the awareness of this problem among the Horry County residents. Horry CAST was formed on a state’s grant due to increasing underage drinking in Horry County. According to CAST, Horry County ranks high on problems, the underage drinking and driving under the influence. According to the members of this group the area police and the group members have increased their efforts to solve the underage drinking and DUI problems by increasing awareness through education and implementing checkpoints throughout the county. The chairman of CAST reported that since March 1, the group has held 46 checkpoints, 18 patrols and they have also issued 323 charges which included 50 DUI cases. The checkpoints have been effective for checking marijuana possessions and open container violations. CAST also believes that the problem can be best solves through “prevention, education and community involvement” (Root, 2012). The members of CAST have shown great interest in solving the issue and according to one official, they are paying worker overtime to patrol and look for areas where parties may be going on in order to identify underage drinkers and keep them away from Horry County streets. CAST has also begun educational classes regarding underage drinking and Dui this year (Smith, 2012). Solutions A lot of parents and also children believe that they consume alcohol out of fashion or because they think it is cool, they really don’t have any reason for it. Many parents believe that there should be some educational classes to enlighten youth about the negative effects of consuming alcohol at a young age, and this can prove to be really worthy in solving the overall problem as a lot of youth also believe that they wouldn’t drink if only they know the possible adverse effects of consuming alcohol. The high school parties and parties near University campuses should be exhaustively monitored as in most of the high school parties alcohol is openly served. The cool image of alcohol needs to be removed so that youth stays away from it. This can be done by restricting alcohol commercials on TV and by strict examination of all the parties that involve minors. The role of parents should also be highlighted, in order to make sure that parents do not leave their children to grow themselves up. Rather they should actually parent their kids. This may involve supervision, consultation and discussing with them the consequences of bad choices. The main concentration should be on making kids accountable and socially responsible. It needs immediate attention because underage drinking is not just a health issue but a social issue which gives birth to a million other evils like raping, drug usage, driving accidents, fighting and so on. References Justice Is Lovely.com. (n.d.). Minor in possession of alcohol. Retrieved from http://www.justiceislovely.com/myrtle-beach-criminal-defense-lawyers/alcohol-crimes/minor-possession-alcohol Root, T. (1, Aug 2012). Area police focus efforts on DUIs, underage drinking with coalition. Retrieved from http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/07/31/2970302/area-police-focus-efforts-on-duis.html Smith, B. (15, Aug 2012). Underage drinking a problem in Horry County . Retrieved from http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=789030 South Carolina, Department of Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse Services (SC, DAODAS) Underage drinking in south carolina. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.daodas.state.sc.us/underage_drinking.asp DATA SOURCES: Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatality Data Source: NHTSA/FARS, 1/12   Arrest Data Source: 2010 FBI Uniform Crime Report Youth Consumption Data Source: SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2008 and 2009 Read More