Essay about Educ 221

Submitted By ddarrett
Words: 2682
Pages: 11

Initial effects of alcohol (2011). Retrieved November 17, 2011, from website http://www.troubledteensinfo.com

Initial/long term effects of alcohol (2011). Retrieved November 17, 2011, from website http://drugsfreeworld.org.

What drugs alcohol does to the brain? Retrieved November 17, 2011 from website http://liifehacker.com

Keep kids healthy. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from website http://kidsheaalth.org

Retrieved November 17,2011, from website http://alcohilism.com

Retrieved November 17, 2011, from website http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/pot/f/mjp_faq14.

Schaler,J & Schaler, M (1998) Smoking Who Has The Right? New York, Prometheus Books.

I never understood why so many people in America abuses drug and alcohol. For one simple reason they both do so much harm to the body. Some say that marijuana has never killed anybody so why don’t they legalize it. The fact that marijuana is not something legal is a good thing. People in America is growing it and using it every day and it’s not even legal, so if it becomes legalize then the use of it will become more common and acceptable. Drinking alcohol is a part of some people’s culture. There are some cultures that have a glass of wine with every meal that they sit down and eat. In the U.S the consumption of alcohol is not legal until one is 21 but for some other places in America the legal age to drink is 18. In America we hear all the time about people wanting to change the legal age of drinking in the U.S to 18. For so many reasons the legal age of drinking in the U.S should stay 21. I don’t think that people really realize how much long term harm they are doing to their bodies when they smoke and drink. There are short term effects that go alone with the use of alcohol and Marijuana. One the many long term effects that is more seen by the public is when people get strung out on drugs and alcohol. For example: there is the guy that was very good in basketball as he was growing up going thru middle and high school. Once he went off to college just like all other college students he started trying new drugs and drinking all the time. That then resulted in him not going to class, missing practices, hanging out at parties all the time, which then turned into him getting put out of college his freshman year. This was a young man at that time, which was being looked at by all kinds of NBA coaches. He got caught up in the use of alcohol and now is back at home living out on the streets, he is so addicted to the use of alcohol he doesn’t know what to do without it. This is one of the effects that a lot of people know about when it comes to the use of alcohol and drugs. There are many more effects that marijuana and alcohol have on the body that people don’t know about.

Alcohol is created when grains, fruits, or vegetables are fermented. Fermentation is a process that uses yeast or bacteria to change the sugars in the food into alcohol. Fermentation is used to produce many necessary items such as cheese to medications. Alcohol has different forms and can be used as a cleaner, an antiseptic, or a sedative. Alcohol is a natural product, so why do teens need to be concerned about drinking it? When people drink alcohol, it's absorbed into their bloodstream. From there, it affects the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), which controls virtually all body functions. Because experts now know that the human brain is still developing during our teens, scientists are researching the effects drinking alcohol can have on the teen brain. Big quantities of alcohol for teens are not good. A tee should not be drinking alcohol until they are of the age really. But if a teen is going to drink they need to drink something that does not have a big percentage of alcohol in it. The legal consumption age in the United States is 21. So a teen is not even legally old enough to be drinking. So for that one reason a teen should not even be consuming alcohol. Most