Underage Drinking In Iowa

In Iowa underage drinking has become a serious problem. Underage drinking is becoming more and more common throughout the state of Iowa and the entire US. It is now the norm for underage high school and college students to attend parties on the weekends where underage drinking occurs. We need to take more action against underage drinking to protect our youth against the harmful effects. Underage drinking in Iowa has become more and more serious as time has gone on. In some places underage drinking is almost expected from high school students. In Iowa, 66.3% of students in grades 9-12 have reported having at least one alcoholic drink in their life, 15.7% reported having a drink by the age of 13, and 23% have had a least five alcoholic …show more content…
In 2009 the state of Iowa did decoy operations to determine if suppliers were following state law and they found that 176 of 349 were not. In 2012 only 84 out of 1,024 were not complying to state law. So while the amount of MIPs has gone up, the amount of distributors selling to minors has gone down. Either way, minors are still able to access alcohol because there has been more MIPs in recent years. Underage drinking in Iowa can be harmful due to traffic crashes, violent crime, property crime, unintentional injury, and high-risk sex. In 2012 there was 10 traffic fatalities, and 522 non-fatal injuries that were attributed to underage drinking and driving (Underage Drinking in Iowa, 2013). Also in 2012, an estimated 3 homicides; 4,600 nonfatal violent crimes such as rape, robbery, and assault; 6,500 property crimes including burglary, larceny, and car theft; and 122,000 public order crimes including vandalism, disorderly conduct, loitering, and curfew violations were attributable to underage drinking (Underage Drinking in Iowa, 2013). In 2013 287 teen pregnancies were attributable to underage drinking. There are many harmful effects from underage drinking, and we need to put a stop to …show more content…
The state and the school should be responsible for putting forth an effort to stop underage drinking. If we do not stop it now, there is no telling how bad it could potentially get.
The numbers have shown that underage drinking has gone up dramatically and it is time that we make it known that underage drinking is not okay. We need to send a clear message across the state of Iowa, and make the effects of being caught drinking underage not worth it. Iowa has a major problem with underage drinking, and it is time we put an end to