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Still Wanna Get Crunk?
By James Chow, Staff Writer
She steps into the room stumbling and moaning; all of a sudden she
collapses to the ground. She lies there, lifeless and pale. You
panic and wonder what could have happened? Who could have done
something like this? As she turns paler and colder she begins to
convulse. You call the hospital as they come they take her away and
place her into the ambulance. Hours later when you visit her at the
hospital and find out that this sinister incident was not caused by
someone evil but was self-inflicted. This story like many others
that happen throughout high schools and colleges around the world.
Why do these kids do this to each other and poison themselves to the
brink of death? Are the teens in America so enticed to down round
after round of beer and shots?
The effects of alcohol can be
bloodcurdling; alcohol depresses nerves that control involuntary
actions such as breathing and the gag reflex, which prevents
choking. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, a fatal dose of alcohol will stop these functions.
Further symptoms may be mental confusion, vomiting, seizures and
hypothermia. Continuous drinking can cause long term liver damage
known as Cirrhosis which stops the liver from being able to clean
the toxins and poisons out of your body.
Underage drinkers account for 25
percent of the alcohol consumed in the United States while they only
make up less that 15 percent of the United States. Who is to blame?
The average age when youth first try alcohol is 11 years for boys
and 13 years for girls. Could this be the fault of bad parenting or
simply teenage boredom? Senior Brittany Crawford feels that, "We
drink because we can and teenagers have access to it." Can we blame
the adults for this access to alcohol or do we have ourselves to
blame? Feeling the world of stress and tests having that numbing
sensation for some of us just seems to be able to numb the feeling
enough for us to get along. One ESHS freshman said, "One of my
friends drinks to get rid of their pain and sorrow." But she says
that she drinks "because I want to." According to one Senior, most
"Teens drink for entertainment."
Drinking continues to be an epidemic
in America. A study in 2003 conducted by the NHTSA reported that
there were over 8,500 deaths caused by teens drinking alcohol that
year. Whether the reason to drink is entertainment or drowning
sorrows, students need to learn to be more responsible with
alcohol.
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