Underage Drinking and Drug taking

http://http//www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/02/12/daily-mirror-campaign-stop-kids-drinking-89520-20316594/

http://http//www.theage.com.au/news/national/children-as-young-as-12-seek-help-over-drinking/2008/02/24/1203788146599.htmll

This picture is cute and funny, but the truth is scary on how young the kids of today are binge drinking and killing themselves off through alcohol and drug abuse.
The first link to the mirror is a story about the current trend of teenage drinking that is happening all over the UK.
The second link has more statictical facts and introduces the craze of drug taking, the seriousness that is now classed as the teenage problems of today, alcohol and drug addiction at the tender ages of 12yrs.
Both links I found interesting to read.


When I was younger it was a weekend thing to go clubbing and then crash back at a mates and continue drinking and maybe some would divulge in smoking weed! This was not an activity that I was partaking in at 12, a few years later at the ripe age of 18 though every one did it.
Today everything seems to be in a rush, the kids are growing up fast and therefore doing the things they shouldn't because nowadays they can! Okay so you can't legally drink on the streets, but you can smoke dope to an extent, I mean who is going to say anything?
Kids hang around the parks and drink to their hearts content, apparently the kids are now getting drunk in their own homes before going on the street terrorizing people! So the question to ask, where are they getting the alcohol from?
The film we watched seemed slightly OTT, but then it was American and that is how they are portrayed. But to an extent what these kids were doing is really no different to what a lot of kids are doing today. They are drinking, having sex, getting diseases and taking drugs.

What can be done? Parents need to stand up and be counted and start helping their kids find better pusuits in life, is it trendy though? Kids are all for keeping face and peer pressure is hell of a thing.

Maybe it is time to follow in Americas footsteps, ban drinking until the age of 21yrs and harsher punishment for the taking of drugs.