Underage drinking double on holidays
There was a very large number of hospital emergency cases related to the problem of underage drinking this weekend, since it was the 4th of July. An United States government study says that the number of the underage drinking cases were nearly double compared to the usual incidents. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration made a study based on data obtained from the hospital that referred to the year 2008, and they found out that the 4th of July incidents were 87 percent more numerous than the ones from any other day of the month: a regular day had an average of 502 visits, and the 4th of July registered 938 visits to the emergency department.
Underage drinking is not as harmless as it seems to be: there are a lot of hospital visits and injuries related to it, many arrests and family quarrels, but most important of all is the fact that every year 5,000 teenagers under the age of 21 die because of alcohol excess. 
SAMHSA representative Pamela S. Hyde says that parents have a leading role in helping children stay away from the temptation of the liquor and that it is their duty to inform their kids about the consequences of alcohol abuse.
