In 2015, 34.7 percent of 15 year olds admitted to having had a least one alcoholic drink — a stat that doesn’t even include teens aged 16 to 20. As high school gets harder, students seek a release from the stress and anxiety that plagues their everyday life, and more often than not turn to parties and alcohol to alleviate stress. We see underage drinking in movies, social media, and popular culture. . We witness our favorite celebrities, our parents, and other older respected adults drink. We watch wild keg stands and exciting beer bong at parties after a winning football game, or we see the prom fruit punch bowl being spiked to ‘get the party started’ in our favorite TV shows.

Alcohol is so highly promoted as either the best party guest, or the as best friend who will help you get over the stresses of life, that it’s a wonder people are even still questioning why teenagers drink. Drinking is such a glorified pastime in our country, even with the dangers that so often come hand in hand. Every year about 5,000 people under the age of 21 die of alcohol poisoning. One in five of all teen car crashes were due to drunk driving, and 81 percent of those drivers had BACs (blood alcohol concentrations) higher than the legal level for adults (under .8 percent). People who start to drink as a teenagers are more likely to develop problems with alcohol later in life which can lead to a risky sex life, violent tendencies, and depression to the point of suicide.

We are taught the dangers of underage drinking, yet teens continue to drink. Why? Is it really because the slogan of Bud Light has flashed across our screens every day since we were children? Is it because even our own President was a large alcohol promoter in the past with his own Vodka line, Trump Vodka, even though his older brother died an alcoholic? Sure, adults can blame it on peer pressure or the want to experiment, and that may be true about the first time. But what about the second time, or the third, or the twelfth?

I can’t speak for all teenagers, but approximately 20 percent of all teens will experience depression at least once before reaching adulthood, and more times than not depression leads to substance abuse. Wouldn’t it make sense that if teens are depressed that they wouldn’t care about the ultimate dangers they are putting themselves into? Instead of turning to the bottle, we need to be able to find healthy alternatives as outlets of freedom. We need to be able to have safe environments where we feel supported with our issues instead of turned away like so many of us are. Stopping underage drinking can start with teenagers, but will be ended with  help from parents or older family members — which might just be easier said than done.