Term paper on Teen Alcoholism

Teen Alcoholism Essays

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Teen Alcoholism

“Too many college students have just one objective, “to get drunk!”

Campus alcoholism is an epidemic sweeping through colleges and universities at a rapidly growing speed. Even though it is illegal for a minor under the age of 21 to purchase or consume alcohol, that law has never stopped those who wished to drink. What used to be a social activity has radically changed to an unsafe pass time that eating away at student’s money, school and health.

A Harvard study showed that in 1993 only 38% of student’s who drank, drank to become drunk. That number jumped to 52% who drink to become drunk, when polled in 1997. Yet alcohol is addictive for only a minority - an estimated 10 percent in the United States - of it users. For most drinkers alcohol is a relatively harmless social beverage. Even though the percent is small, too many students are spending weekends and weeknights drinking the nights away.

Time is not the only commodity that kids are wasting on alcohol. Research shows that college students spend 5.5 billion dollars a year on beer and alcohol. That is over four billion cans a year and 430 million gallons annually. All that alcohol is enough for every college and university in the U.S. to feel an Olympic size swimming pool.

Alcohol is an infinitely confusing substance. In small amounts it is an exhilarating stimulant. In larger amounts it acts as a sedative and as a toxic, or poisonous, agent. When taken in very large amounts over long periods of time, this combination chemical and drug can be damaging to cells, tissues, and organs.

To further the confusion, alcohol is the only drug, which can also be classified as a food. Rich in calories and a potent source of energy for the body, alcohol is used by the cells to perform their complicated functions. Unlike most foods, however, alcohol contains negligible amounts of vitamins and minerals and contributes little or nothing to the cells' nutritional requirements. As a result, continual heavy drinking inevitably leads to malnutrition.

The challenge to drink to the very limits of one’s endurance has become a celebrated staple of college life. "What has changed is the across-the-board acceptability of intoxication," says Felix Savino, a psychologist at UW-Madison. "Many college students today see not just drinking but being drunk as their primary way of socializing."

The reasons for the shift are complex and not fully understood. But researchers surmise that it may have something to do with today’s instant-gratification life-style—and young people tend to take it to the extreme.

In total, it is estimated that America’s 12 million undergraduates drink the equivalent of six million gallons of beer a week.

One simple fact people tend to lose sight of is that alcohol is a poison—often pleasurable, but a toxin nonetheless. And for a...

Sources

Another Empty Bottle. http://www.alcoholismhelp.com
Planet Papers. http://www.planetpapers.com
Rubin, S. Reader’s Digest, “Binge Drinking Campus Killer.” September 1998. You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
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