Almost everybody drinks alcohol like it or not, at legal age and underage. Around the world it’s a collective symbol of collaboration, fun, and enjoyance. But also it’s a symbol of anger, mourning, suffering, and struggle.
In the U.S, how many adults drink alcohol?
Picture yourself going to a nice dine-in restaurant, when you walk past the tables while getting escorted to your table what do you see? Maybe a wine glass, or a martini? How about a nice crisp beer? It’s likely before you even sit down to look at the menu you will know which alcoholic beverages are offered to you. If it’s like this in most restaurants, it makes you wonder, “how many adults truly drink?”
According to Pew Research center, it is found that around 62% of American adults drink alcohol on an average, while 38% don’t drink alcohol at all. And according to the independent, 3 in 5 of alcohol consumers have admitted to drinking alcohol as a coping mechanism.
Aside from the U.S alone on an average 32.5% people drink alcohol globally, that’s one in three people, or 2.4 billion according to britishlivertrust.org
Underage drinking
In just America alone underage drinking is not a new thing, or a little occurrence. Underage drinking is commonly seen at an average High school party, a students house (owned by the parent or guardian), college parties, and TV shows. And more often than not when you watch a show about students in high school and college, it will depict underage drinking regularly or as an addiction. Sadly, these shows are not far from the truth.
According to the 2023 (NSDUH) study, around 12.6 million teenagers and young adults aged 12-20 (33.1% of people in this age group) had reported that they’ve had at least one drink in their lives. And 5.6 million young adults (under 21) admitted to drinking more than just ‘a few sips of alcohol’ in the past month. Equally important, people aged 12 to 20 count for more than 3.2% of total alcohol consumption in the United States. With close to 663,000 youth aged 12-20 reporting binge drinking for 5 or more days of the month. (niaaa.nih.gov)
Many teenagers drink because of problems with friends, family, partners, or school. If someone underage you know is drinking underage without a parental monitor or moderation, please reach out to Safe2Tell, a trusted adult, or a Substance Abuse/Crisis Hotline.
Further information will be at the end of the article.
Crime and abuse from alcohol
Often homicides, assault, sexual assaults, and other physical violations towards people are caused from drunkenness. This also has to do with the lack of self control and restraint that comes when you are drunk. 88,000 people die per year due to an alochol related issue that includes, homicide, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and suicide. According to Butler University, Sexual assault and alcohol are a very common duo, 30%[139,090 of 463,634 cases on average] of all sexual assaults occur when the perpetrator is drunk. And in addition, 75% of sexual assaults that occur on a college campus are when the perpetrator is drunk, and in many cases also the victim. What’s more, between 28 and 43% of violent injuries are caused from alcohol intake, and 47% of homicides are estimated to involve alcohol consumption.
Alcoholhelp.com quotes; “On average, roughly 40% of inmates who are incarcerated for violent offenses were under the influence of alcohol during the time of their crime.”
But, crimes like these aren’t the only things that happen from heavy alcohol consumption/use. Close to 10.5%(7.5 million) children under 17 live in a household with a parent that is struggling with alcohol use disorder according to a 2017 study by SAMHSA. Very obviously, this can cause further issues for the child including similar substance abuse, mental health issues, etc. And among children who live in abusive households, 40% of these cases involve misuse of alcohol or other drugs. (preventchildabuse.org)
Based on these facts, alcohol can be used for things other than addiction, coping, etc. and is commonly seen at parties, dinners, etc. Is there really any use for alcohol? Could the world be more at peace with the illegalization of alcohol? That is up for you to decide, would there statistically be less abusive households? Would the rate of sexual assaults and homicides go down significantly?
Reach out for help if you or someone else needs it
Colorado Crisis Service –
(844) 493-8255 [call] OR Text: TALK to 38255
2-1-1 Colorado (Get immediate help for non emergency questions about substance abuse)
2-1-1 [Call] OR Text: Your zip code to 898211
Suicide and Crisis Hotline – 988
Further information -https://nationalrehabhotline.org/colorado/
NSDUH – National Survey on Drug and Health
sources
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/underage-drinking-united-states-ages-12-20#:~:text=Prevalence%20of%20Lifetime%20Drinking,one%20drink%20in%20their%20lives.&text=This%20includes%3A,31.1%25%20in%20this%20age%20group
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/underage-drinking#:~:text=Many%20Youth%20Drink%20Alcohol,1%20drink%20in%20their%20lifetime.&text=In%202023%2C%205.6%20million%20youth,sips%E2%80%9D%20in%20the%20past%20month.
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH111/NSDUH111/SR111StateEstUnderageAlc2012.htm
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/underage-drinking
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/03/10-facts-about-americans-and-alcohol-as-dry-january-begins/#:~:text=Overall%2C%2062%25%20of%20U.S.%20adults,a%20July%202023%20Gallup%20survey.
https://preventchildabuse.org/images/docs/therelationshipbetweenparentalalcoholandotherdrugproblemsandchildmaltreatment.pdf
https://alcohol.org/health-effects/drinking-and-fighting/
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH111/NSDUH111/SR111StateEstUnderageAlc2012.htm
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH111/NSDUH111/SR111StateEstUnderageAlc2012.htm
https://rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20there%20are%20463%2C634,year%20in%20the%20United%20States.
