ugh on Gateway Drugs centers on alcohol as a first step in the addiction process for most children who become alcoholics (Dupont). They all helped me answer my important questions and agreed on the information they gave.I started out my search at the local library, looked through some books about alcohol, and found several ranging from its uses and abuses to teenage drinking. I did not bother looking in the encyclopedia because I figured that the people who wrote these books had already done it for me. The first book I looked through was by Alan R. Lang (February 29, 2000); I skimmed through the table of contents of the book and saw that it had a section devoted to the short term as well as the long-term effects of alcohol. So, in order to get a better understanding of this issue I turned to the specified page and found that the effect of alcohol is directly related to ones BAC, or blood alcohol concentration (Lang 39). This is what makes different kinds of people engage in a wide array of behaviors, such as when two people drink the same amount of alcohol but the person who has more body mass does not feel the effects of the alcohol. The other person, who has less body mass will get drunk faster and is said to have less of a tolerance for alcohol.In Volgers Teenagers and Alcohol, I found an excellent table outlining the effects of alcohol in relation to the BA level of the consumer. At a BA level of 75 the subject is at a stage where he/she begins to have a buzz. During this time coordination is poor; at 150 the person is drunk and shouldnt be allowed to walk, much less drive (Volger 24). This information is good to know, but it still was not answering my question. What happens to a person that makes them need this drug?Margaret O. Hyde believes that teenagers may become alcoholics in order to defy their overprotective parents or to prove themselves to their cool friends who are doing it (42). Many of these alcoholics will be...
