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Beer - Underage Beer Drinking

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By: Michael Russell

As you're growing up as a teenager, there are a number of things that you look forward to; getting your drivers license, graduating from high school, going to your senior prom, having your first date and having your first beer. The problem with this last one is that the drinking age and the thing you want make it something that you just can't have yet. And still, you want it and will go to any lengths to get it.

Underage beer drinking is certainly no secret and to try to sweep it under the carpet isn't going to make it go away. But the most odd thing about underage drinking when it comes to beer is that even after kids sneak their first beer, they still want to have another one. If you're wondering why that sounds so strange then you need to think back to when YOU had your first beer. It was pretty nasty tasting. Let's be honest, beer is bitter and is an acquired taste. Very few people, if any at all, enjoyed their first beer. Many even get sick after it because of the taste or the fact that they're not used to the alcohol yet.

And still, they want another. Why?

Well, that all comes down to beer being the "cool" thing to drink when you're a kid. Most teenagers wouldn't consider sitting down to a gin and tonic. That's and "old" person's drink. Kids drink beer because they see the characters on TV and movies drinking beer. James Bond may have been cool drinking martinis, but let's face it, most kids wouldn't know how to make a martini with the directions right in front of them. But how hard is it open up a bottle of beer? Today, with the twist off caps, it's not hard at all. Beer is convenient. That's another reason kids choose it over drinks that you have to mix.

And where are they getting their beer from? Simple. They're getting their beer from their older friends. An 18 year old has no trouble walking into a liquor store or a bar and picking up a six pack. What he does with that six pack, which unfortunately many times involves bringing it to his underage friends, is out of the store owner's control. The sad truth is, it's out of everybody's control. And as a result, this thing that kids want, as bad as that prom date, as bad as that graduation, as bad as that driver's license, while something they are not ready to have, either legally or emotionally, is delivered, parcel post, right into their underage hands.

Maybe if we didn't glamorize beer in the movies and on TV; maybe if we didn't have all these cool sports stars and movie starts promoting it on commercials; maybe if we made kids realize that beer in the hands of a 16 year old is like putting a gun in his hands; maybe we wouldn't have so much underage drinking going on.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Beer

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