Alcohol and Other Drugs
Reducing Underage Drinking: Underage Alcohol
Use is Not a Rite of Passage
Underage Alcohol Use is Not a Rite of Passage Slide Presentation
This presentation is intended for audiences of parents, decision-makers and other influential community members. It helps counter the misinformation and perceptions about both underage alcohol use and high-risk drinking by young adults. Too many adults refer to their own experiences and do not realize that youth and young adults may be drinking quite differently from when they were young.
There are many discussions about lowering the legal drinking age in an attempt to reduce harm to young adults and to teach them how to drink responsibly. These mis-perceptions and misinformation are enabling drinking behaviors that are causing harm to too many young people. The presentation uses data, stories and pictures to address the following arguments:
- we drank when we were young - kids will be kids
- underage drinking is a rite of passage
- our laws are too Puritanical - the drinking age should be lowered
- young people would be okay if they could drink in a safe setting like a bar
- European countries have it right with their lower drinking ages
- if they are old enough to fight for their country they are old enough to drink
- at least they are only drinking alcohol
There are three parts to this presentation