Drinking age should
By Adam Wong
not be loweredIn everybody's life there will be a point when he or she will try alcohol. People may have a sip of wine or a can of beer. It will either be the peer pressure from friends or the temptation to see what alcohol is like. When people try alcohol, they should be 21 or older. That's what the law says, and it's for your own good. The minimum legal drinking age should remain at 21.
One reason is that by the time you are 21 you are considered an adult. As an adult you should be physically mature and you should have a better understanding of your tolerance for alcohol. If you get caught with alcohol and are under the age of 21, you will get punished. Take for instance the new zero-tolerance law that says with any sign of alcohol you lose your license if under age. I've heard stories that the police make you pour out the alcohol you have right on the spot, and if they are annoyed, they will take you to the police station and call your parents.
When your parents get a hold of you, it's not going to be nice. You are looking at a "big time" grounding. Also, there will be the long lectures. You will wish that alcohol was never invented.
I have seen kids my age who drink for the sole purpose of getting drunk. They get sick or behave foolishly.
When you're drunk and your friends like to play tricks on you, you are in trouble. They could make you do things like go up a tree and do obscene things without your clothes. Then the next day you can't remember anything and you have a terrible headache. At school there will be talk about you, and it won't be good.
If these reasons are not enough to convince you to wait, or not to drink at all, then there are long-term effects, possibly even death. There are several ways to die from alcohol. You don't have to be drinking to die from it either. Someone who is drunk and is driving fast to show off to his or her friends can crash into another car or hit pedestrians on the sidewalk. One of my friends was a passenger in a car driven by a drunk and died .
If you're too young and can't handle the alcohol, you can die right on the spot from alcohol poisoning. Alcohol ranks in the top 10 for causing deaths in the United States. There have been deaths at frat parties because kids are still too young to drink and can't handle the alcohol along with other stuff they might try at the party.
Say maybe you can handle all the alcohol and none of this affects you when you are young. You start to drink more and more every day until you are addicted. Now you have to buy alcohol every day. You have mood swings. If you have a family, they suffer.
My friend's dad, who had been drinking ever since he was a teen, stopped about a year ago because he almost died from liver failure and internal bleeding. My friend didn't find out his father was bleeding until the next morning when his father was lying in the puddle of his own blood. The father is somewhat healthy thanks to the metal plate in his liver. He still has to see the doctor regularly. My friend's father wasn't supposed to live this long, according to the doctor. The father was only 49 when it happened. Drinking made him act differently toward his family. He yelled and was physically abusive. Now that he has stopped drinking, he is a pleasant person.
Now, I'm not saying wait until you turn 21 and start drinking as much as you can. Nasty things can still happen. If you decide to drink, consider carefully the potential dangers, like death, organ failure and loss of brain cells.
Adam Wong is a senior at Kaiser High School. Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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