Underage drinking is, in fact, a huge problem in the world these days. Underage drinking is someone that is not of legal age, which is any age under 21, drinking alcohol. Kids should be hanging out with their friends, doing their homework, studying for tests, and playing games; they should not be drinking alcohol. The worst part is that they are getting alcohol from their parents, someone else that is of legal age, or even buying alcohol themselves. They see alcohol advertisements everywhere and think that drinking alcohol is the cool thing to do, or they get peer pressured into drinking.

Children today are more exposed to alcohol advertisements than ever before. Alyssa Bindman, writer of The Nation’s Health, tells us that, “According to a recent Rand study, children as young as 11 or 12 who are exposed to alcohol marketing are more likely to use alcohol or plan to use alcohol.” Children age 11 or 12 in my opinion should not be drinking alcohol at all. I’m not sure that advertisements have a whole lot to do with underage drinking, but I know that it doesn’t help to see them everywhere. “The study found that children with the highest levels of marketing exposure were 50 percent more likely to drink and 36 percent more likely to intend to drink a year later compared to children with little exposure to alcohol ads” (Bindman). Advertisements really have a huge impact on the actions of adolescents. Advertisements are everywhere, on billboards, on the side of buses, on television, on the radio, in grocery stores and gas stations, even on clothing. Kids are seeing alcohol at games and things like that so they think that alcohol is associated with entertainment. Children see their parents drinking or even some of their friends so they think that it would be cool to drink alcohol themselves. Adolescents really do not understand that drinking alcohol has negative effects. According to American Medical News,

Research indicates that early alcohol use and abuse impacts brain development. Moreover, adolescent drinkers perform worse in school, are more likely to fall behind and have an increased risk of social problems, depression, suicidal thoughts and violence. Other studies have found that kids who begin drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life.

All of this could lead to adolescents getting bad grades in school, skipping school or just not going to school, which would most likely prevent them from graduating high school. They could also be wounded, or worse, in an alcohol related vehicle crash as well if they are not careful. According to Campus Crime, “It costs the United States $62.6 billion annually in deaths, injuries, property damage, and related economic and productivity losses. Illegal alcohol consumption by underage individuals led to 3,212 deaths and 2.4 million other harmful events in the lives of families and citizens in 2001.” These are not good numbers to see when it comes to deaths and money for deaths, injuries, and damage. Parents need to be involved with their children and they need to know what their children are doing. Also according to American Medical News, “Underage drinking is a factor in nearly half of all teen automobile crashes. About 11 million Americans younger than 21 drink. Nearly half drink to excess — consuming five or more drinks in a row, one or more times in a two-week period. Studies also show that kids often have their first taste before age 12. By 18, more than 70% have had a drink.” Kids are drinking way too early and I believe a lot of the problem is probably the children’s parents. A lot of parents these days are letting their children do whatever they want to do including drinking alcohol. They believe that if they let their children drink at home they will only drink at home and not at their friends’ house or while driving around. I believe that some might actually only drink at home, but most of them will drink elsewhere, act foolish, and get themselves hurt. There needs to be something done to prevent underage teens from drinking, like making sure that parents lock their alcohol up in a closet, making sure that people that are of age do not buy alcohol for them, or even talking to teens about how drinking alcohol is not a good idea. There are ways to prevent teenagers from buying alcohol on their own. We may have solved a portion of the problem.

The authorities have been conducting tests to see if underage teens can buy alcohol on their own. A teenager is sent, by authorities, into a store that sells alcohol to see if the retailer will sell it to them or not. According to the Grocer, “Pravinder Dhamdachia of Shelly Park Stores in Wellingborough, says he does not have a lot of problems. He knows nearly all of his customers and how old the youngsters are. If in doubt he says it’s no ID, no purchase. He believes much of the problem of underage drinking is caused by over-18’s making legitimate purchases but then giving alcohol to their younger friends.” People that are of age to buy alcohol are definitely making a huge problem if they are buying alcohol for underage teens, it is certainly not right. They could really get into trouble if they got caught buying alcohol for a minor. Also according to the Grocer, “Mahesh Modasia runs Bina Food Store in Northampton and has had two test purchasers in his store. Each time they were refused. He says he is not against test purchasing, but it should be targeted. ‘If someone is flouting the law, then fine. But it can be difficult to tell children’s ages because today they look so much older than they are.’ He believes retailers should not be blamed for underage drinking and drunkenness.” It does not matter if the person is 12 but they look like they are 25, you would still ask them for their I.D. It could be totally different too, they could be 25 but look like they are 12 and you would certainly ask them for their I.D. There is a simple way to make sure that you do not sell alcohol to minors, you ask everyone that tries to buy alcohol for their identification. Most people do not like to be asked for their I.D. But if every place that sold alcohol would do this and just say that if they do not have their I.D. then they do not get the alcohol, there would be less minors buying alcohol. There is a new machine that goes along with carding everyone and will help in preventing minors from buying alcohol.

According to Campus Crime, “A new campaign to combat underage drinking is calling on Congress to require liquor-selling establishments to install new technology that can detect the difference between fake IDs and genuine state issued identification. Sponsored by America’s Partners to Prevent Underage Drinking (AP), the campaign has two components: public awareness and the new technology device.” This suggests that bringing an electronic confirmation system to alcohol retailers around the world will help prevent underage drinking. This confirmation system will enable people to swipe their driver’s license, ID card, and military identification card so that the retailers will not have to guess at their age. This is certainly a good idea but it will only work if someone underage tries to come in and buy alcohol. So, if someone that is of legal age comes in to buy alcohol, it will not stop them from buying it for someone who is underage. This will definitely help to avert underage drinking but it will not prevent it entirely.

According to US Newswire,

The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced awards of more than $20 million to 50 states and the District of Columbia to enforce state and local underage drinking laws. The awards are made through the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) program, which supports activities in law enforcement, public education programs, and innovative methods for reaching youth. These awards fund initiatives to limit youth access to alcohol, strictly enforce underage drinking laws and promote zero tolerance for underage drinking while creating positive outlets for our youth.

This sounds like an excellent program going on in the United States and the District of Columbia.  According to US Newswire, “Each state and the District of Columbia received a $350,000 block grant award. Additionally, California, Oregon and Washington each received more than $1 million in discretionary awards to assist with enforcement of laws that regulate the access, possession, and consumption of alcohol by minors in rural communities through EUDL’s Rural Initiative.” With all of the funding to enforce the law, there should not be as many teens drinking alcohol. The Department of Justice is really trying to bring to an end, the underage drinking problem by supporting activities for these teens to get involved in. “Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) is the only federal initiative directed exclusively toward preventing underage drinking. The program is a $25 million initiative consisting of block grants to each state and the District of Columbia, and discretionary awards to selected states to fund best and most promising activities at the local level” (US Newswire). Underage drinking is most definitely a huge problem, especially when there are programs that fund activities for kids to prevent them from drinking.

We are definitely coming up with good ways to prevent teens from getting their hands on alcohol. The electronic device that can tell the difference between a fake I.D. and a state issued identification is definitely a good idea if the retailers actually use it. Also, if they would card everyone, instead of just carding the people that they think are too young to buy the alcohol, then there would be less teens buying alcohol. Funding activities for teens should help with the matter as well. Hopefully the numbers of teen deaths and the money funding the deaths will decrease over time.