It's only fun? Or is it? <<<< easily the best article on here

It's only fun? Or is it?

Underage and teenage drinking has always been a problem in the UK on average 8 out of 10, 15 years olds admit to having an alcoholic drink And drinking regularly! The largest increase was seen in 14 year olds, whose reported alcohol consumption rose from around six to just fewer than 10 units per week! This information can all be found at drinkaware.co.uk

 So we begin to ask ourselves why this is happening. Why are our teenagers drinking alcohol?

The response I've been getting from the people in my class is quite clear, most if not all drink to socialise as David explains "I drink to have a good time" this is the view of many teenagers around the UK. When they are on a night out and with people they are more likely to drink to get drunk, a quote I got from a teen in my class was that "I drink so that I can pull girls, I feel much more confident, it gives me the boost" statistically this is why most singles drink alcohol on their nights out and why allot of others drink to become more confident with themselves. However, not all drinking nights out end up well, as The Telegraph published "Almost 8,000 children under the age of 18 were admitted to hospital in 2006/7 a rise of more than five per cent in three years." These so called "fun nights out" tend to turn into violent disasters Danny tells us about his story 2 weeks ago  when his friend was punched in the face and had to have 7 stitches to the lip due to being drunk and violent.

Alcohol has become a norm to teenagers and underage drinkers "it's something to do" one of the teens in my class told me. It seems as if there is not enough for teens to do outside of the classroom or house without alcohol being involved, in my view and the view of my class there should be more options available to teenagers like, sports facilities as one of the teens in my class quotes " I wish there was more to do in the line of sport, I love playing football but it seems that's all there is" perhaps if the government funded local sports centres it would encourage kids to do something else other than drinking.

Another issue raised was the lack of jobs for young adults. 80% of the class say that the one reason that they drink at the weekends is that they don't have a job to keep the occupied. Moreover the government does not help get young adults into jobs, the teens within my class agreed that the lack of jobs leaves them little else to do other than to drink, as after all as one teen said, 'it's cheaper to buy a bottle of vodka than it is to go bowling'. 

Overall in my view, underage drinking has not been managed well by government. Yes it's true that they report it in the news and the newspapers but they haven't managed to come up with a scheme or plan on tackling it. Children need to be given something to do, if you give a child a sports facility where they can learn and play they will go there instead of going on drinking. However with the new government it seems all they want to do is cut public spending, so once again teens and children are left with nothing else to do but drink.

Mergim 'Barry' Neziaj