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​ ​ __ Alcohol and Teens __ Introduction Imagine waking up in the hospital after being out at a party the night before, and finding out that your two best friends have died of liver failure, and that your liver is barely functioning. You find out that you guys managed to drink about 20 shots of vodka in a matter of 4 hours while you were at the party. This has not happened to many teenagers, but by the age of 16, 86.6% of teenagers have drank an alcholic beverage before in their lives (Gliksman 3). Although the legal drinking age for individuals has been 21 years of age since 1984, teens still manage to drink(Nasso 1). Teens all around the world drink either to "fit in" and be cool, or because of peer pressure. In many cases it turns into binge drinking or drinking just to get drunk. Drinking not only effects you emotionally, but it effects you physically a lot more. Drinking has many related health effects, and these health effects are higher for teen agers due to the fact that teenagers bodies are still developing unlike adults. Health Effects When drinking, you are basically putting a toxin in your body that is absorbed through the stomach and then it goes into your blood stream. Your liver is the body part that has the responsibility of working and getting the toxin out of your system. When functioning normally, the liver can process and eliminate 12 ounces of beer, or 5 ounces of wine, or one shot per hour(Aaseng 35). What happens over time to a liver that has been exposed to alcohol is that it gets damaged. In order to repair itself, the liver heals just as any cut would heal on your body. The thing with the liver though is that when it heals the muscle hardens due to the alcohol damaging it and it being repaired. When a liver is hardened it is a disease called cirrhosis(Aaseng 39). Pictured to the left is a picture of a healthy liver compared to a damaged liver with cirrhosis. Visually you can only identify the color diference, but it is harder too. Your liver is not the only body part that is effected with the use of alcohol, your brain is too. Look at the picture at the top of the page one of the diagrams is the brain's activity when an individual is sober and the other is the brain activity of an individual when the person is intoxicated. The blue and green represent very little brain activity or function and the yellow and red and orange represent a lot of brain activity. There is less brain function when your body is under the influence of alcohol, because alcohol is a depressant and slows down body functions and coordination(Koch 1). When teens drink alcohol, it damages their brains, by not letting their brains mature in a full out matter. Also when the brain is still forming in teens and they drink alcohol, the receptors in their brains get the idea that they need the alcohol to function properly. After a few times of having alcohol, the receptors are formed and "need" alcohol to function properly. This is how many people become addicted to things(Mantel 5). If the receptors in the brain are not filled with the thing that it "needs" to function properly the person will feel sick or not well, because the receptors are not filled. The third and most important part of the body that the use of alcohol affects is the kidney. The kidney's purpose in the body is to filter the blood. After using alcohol over time the kidney starts to function and clean less and less. In teens it is a faster process since the kidneys are not fully developed yet. The kidneys are dameaged, because when an individual consumes alcohol, the stomach absorbs it, and then it goes into the blood stream. While the kidneys are filtering out the blood, the alcohol gets to them and it begins to slowly eat away at them or deteriorate them which causes them to not function as efficiently and not to filter all the necessary particles out(Mantel 4).

How and Where to Get Help When it comes to a person admitting they have problem, teens are the last people to admit to it. Many teens belive they are indestructible or "Untouchable"(Sandlow 7). As a teen you see yourself as not needing help, or you find that nothing is wrong with you as long as you "fit in" with people. Well there is more to that. The first step is admitting that you have a problem which is by far the most difficult step. If you suspect a friend or a family has a problem it is best to try and solve it asap wheather it seems like it is a problem, or just a slight possibility. It is best to react, because you will never know the truth, and when you find out it might be just too late! There are many places that are willing to help followed by many individuals too. You could start off and just go to the individuals close family members, and notify them about your concern, or if you would like to take a further more gerastic approach, you could go to a counciler and take them their. At first when you reccomend them going to a counciler they might not want to go, or even deny there is a reason to go. After some time goes by, they will probably like going, because they can relax and talk about things while getting help. In the youtube video below a man named Harold Morris had everything going for him in highschool, he was a good student, fabulous athlete, and nice guy. After some bad decisions he began to go down a bad path taking drugs and drinking alcohol. After being locked up in prison for a while, he thought about things, and slowly began getting his life back together, especially after he got out of jail. Now he goes around and helps out teens who have problems and he tries to get the message that he got across his head to them too. In the video there are some interviews of teens and they talk about how he has influenced them, and how it is much easier understanding it from a person that has been in their shoes rather than just a regular person. This shows how only one person is needed and a huge difference can be made. The video shows how easy it is to make or break your life with just a few stupid decisions.

= Other Useful Websites = =media type="youtube" key="Z0HaOnc_YbE" height="266" width="278" align="right"= [] This website shows the effects that drinking has on teenagers. [] This is a good website for preventing alcohol abuse or useage. [] This website can help you determine if you have a drinking problem. [] This website explains why many teens use alcohol. [] This website consists of many statistics and can help you get help.

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Works Cited Aaseng, Nathan. //Teens and Drunk Driving//. San Diego, California: Lucent, 2000. Print. Gliksman, Louis. "Heavy Drinking on Canadian Campuses." //SIRS Knowledge//. Jan. & Feb. 2003. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. Koch, Kathy. "Drunken Driving." //CQ Researcher//. 6 Oct. 2000. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. Mantel, Barbara. "Drinking on Campus." //CQ Research Online//. 18 Aug. 2006. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. Nasso, Christine. //Underage Drinking//. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Greenhaven, 2008. Print. // Opposing Viewpoints //. 21 Aug. 1997. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. Sandalow, Marc. //Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center//. 26 Jan. 2000. Web. 27 Jan. 2010.

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