Stuart, Florida was a calm town, until a fatal accident changed a family's life forever. Stephen Bromstrup, a sixteen-year-old boy, killed two teenage girls after he had been drinking at a party. Stephen ran through the stop sign where the two-lane road he had been on intersected the main highway; Stephen escaped from the accident with only a broken jaw, but the accident left his two childhood friends dead (Murphy 1). The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking. This includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drowning. However, drinking remains popular among teenagers. According to data from the 2005 Monitoring the Future study, three-fourths of 12th graders, more than two-thirds of 10th graders, and about two in every five 8th graders have consumed alcohol. When teenagers drink, they tend to drink excessively and often consume four to five drinks at one time. Many teenagers go to alcohol as their drug choice, and they are more inclined to make bad decisions when they under the influence. As a result, underage drinking is a serious public problem in this country, and there are many arguments on how to solve the major issue. However, educating teenagers about alcohol has proven to be the most effective way to reduce the amount of underage drinking in America. .
Scare tactics is one of the methods used to solve the growing problem of teenage alcohol abuse. People associate alcohol with marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs. Technically, this statement is correct because any substance that can change the function of the body is a drug. However, the word "drug" has negative implications, and the attempt to disgrace a legal product, alcohol, which is used in moderation by most American adults, is ineffective.
