http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8083763.stm Patients as young as still in thier 20's are starting to appear in NHS hospitals with liver failure, high blood pressure and internal bleeding. No doubt the goverment response will be to crack down on drinking more, including more hiking up of prices, more encouragement for under 25's to carry ID with them at all times and of course more stop and searches. What we can also gauruntee is that no action or even investigation into the root cause will be examined. The 18-25 age group is highest suicide risk group. It's downright depressing! Your wages are lower. Your opinion is valued less. The newspapers portray you as violent thugs at every oportunity. Lack of unionisation has meant that young workers are least likely to be able to spot when thier employers are behaving illegaly. They are less likely to find work and while they look they are entitled to only 20-40% the beneifts of a 25 year old. A 25 year old in poverty is something that the country will swoop in to protect throwing high benefits, tax credits, lower car insurance, better credit leading to lower outgoings and social acceptance. Somebody only a year younger will be treated like the gutter scum of the earth. So, is it any wonder that the youth turn to heavy drinking to escape the world that has rejected and abused them so? Is it any wonder too that they lash out when thier inhabititons are removed? All that pent up frustration and anger that must be suppressed on a daily basis. The UK fails its youth and when society has made it clear that it views youth as the enemy, the bottle becomes the youth's friend. As usual, the govermenet will throw petrol onto the fire as an excuse to further imperialism as a reaction to youth frustration.
Really I do not see that many people in my school that drink to escape their problems (about 70% of my school drinks). I see somebody that gets drunk because they have a bad day but, other than that it is usually people that get high all the time (even during school) are the ones that try to escape their problems.
Another probable cause of this in the US could be the current crackdown on art and language. Just because 2 kids in the 90's had AK47s and bombs and destroyed thier school and killed a bunch of people does not mean that everyone is like that. In fact, those to kids were proven to be insane. Nowadays, if you make the slightest violent comment or joke, the slightest amount of violence in a picture or story, they go insane and put you in therapy and isolate you and possibly expel or arrest you. I remember, in 5th grade, on the 2nd to last day of school, I said that "tommorow might be somewhat explosive" and they expelled me.
I said that "tommorow might be somewhat explosive" and they expelled me. Wow, thats really sad. Anyway my opinion on the drinking age and drugs is that just by simply making it a legal taboo use rates increase we can see this on the War on Drugs and Prohibition. Kids are drinking because they know nothing about alcohol and pop culture tells them to be cool and get trashed. Whenever I tell kids I drink the next question is "so you get drunk a lot" as if they don't know that alcohol can be used responsibly, im a temperate I dont get trashed. Repeal the drinking age entirely! Coffee is a drug like alcohol but it is legal, you see no one saying "yo man imma get crunk dis weekend on some lattes!".
