#teendrinking

Who doesn't know someone who hasn't had a drink, hey, who hasn't had one themselves. But over the years teenagers have led the dark path of social drinking to even binge drinking. In the US a survey was carried out and found that in a period of thirty days 29% of students had drank some amount of alcohol, 22% had binge drank and 8% had drove after drinking.

If a teen begins using alcohol on a regular basis, or binge drinking (infrequently) they are more likely to experience school problems (such as failing grades), social problems and physical/sexual assault.Just because a victim is drunk, it doesn't mean that rape isn't rape, but many victims feel undermined and never report the crime because they feel it was their fault, but no means no.

The number of 11-15 year olds who have ever drunk alcohol has been going down since 2003, more than two out of five (43%) have tried alcohol and are drinking so much as teens were in 1990. Those as young as twelve find it the norm to experiment with alcohol and drugs such as cigarettes and cannabis joints.

Furthermore, teens under the influence are more likely to have unprotected sex, this increases the chance of a unplanned pregnancy.

The things we have to realise today is that alcohol is widely available, online with a credit card or in a local shop where ID isn't a priority, making those at eleven aware of what alcohol is often ineffective, teens think that if they drink "socially" once a week its okay. But "socially" means getting drunk, occasionally getting drunk, this can leave lasting effects on the liver and making teens dependent as adults.

As a year ten student I am teeming with stories of classmates who recall little details of upper middle class teen house parties. Just the other day I asked a friend what she did on Saturday, the reply was that she spent the night at a boys house where she had got drunk and found herself in a closet when she woke up. I then asked her about if she was worried about failing her GCSE's, the next answer angered me; "No, I don't get really drunk as I used to, that was the first time I got really drunk since Year 7 or 8. Anyway, I am in top set for everything and my brother got through his GCSE's and A-Levels with A's and B's smoking pot."