Four Loko: Danger to Health

The purpose of the article, “Popular Beverages May Pose Problem for Young” is to educate students that are in high school and college. This Article goes over how drinking the alcoholic drink, Four Loko, is very bad for them and is dangerous when they drink an excessive amount of this drink. This article’s target audience would be those that are still in high school and colleges, those targeted are more likely to be around this alcoholic beverage called, Four Loko. It also is a very sweet and fruity drink so drinking it becomes easier. This drink Four Loko, also has caffeine inside of it so that the person is unaware of them becoming more intoxicated as mentioned in the 6th paragraph. When reading this article there were three details that were emphasized upon. The first detail was “Witness to effects”, in this sections of the article it told us a first-hand experience from a high school student that was at a party that was hosting this drink Four Loko. He stated that most of the people drinking Four Loko were just like the typical drunk, slurred speech, aggression, fights, and rude behavior. The only difference was that they were getting drunk faster than they realize and because of this they can get alcohol poisoning much more easily. The second detail that the article went over was “Alcohol Dependency”, because these drinks are sweet, and fruity they are much more likely to start younger kids into early drinking which has been proven that if a person starts drinking before the age of 15, as compared to drinking when at the age of 21, are much more likely to develop a dependency for alcohol. The third and last detail is “FDA Probe Sought”, during this part of the article it goes over how many attorney generals have wrote letters to the FDA to investigate the legality of selling caffeinated alcoholic drinks and to possible ban the sale of these kinds of drinks as a means to “protect” the youth. Right now this drink is still under investigation. This article was very well written and it hits on most of the points that it was trying to get across, I think that the statements acquired from the high school student seems to be very out of place in the sense of why is a student with his kind of a background doing at that kind of party makes me think that this student was made up as a way to make a point. I also think that the writer could have spent a little more time on the immediate side effects of drinking this beverage at such a young age and how it could possibly affect them. I don’t think the source that was used in this article was very reliable because it was a 17 year old kid, I don’t think that he was the best person to have “interviewed” for this article because he does not seem to be the kind of person to regularly go to parties and actually see what goes on. A person who regularly goes to these parties and can compare how this drink is affecting his friends as compared to another drink is a more reliable source. Our textbook goes on to tell us that alcohol can affect the brain of a developing child if he or she begins to drink at an early age. Alcohol is said to a psychoactive drug, which causes changes in the brain, that can completely alter how a person is behaving or thinking. The article agrees with what our books state about drinking alcohol and its side effects. Things that were the same are ways that it effects the brain when consumed, it can have a wide range of effects such as thinking, emotions, motor skills, judgment, and behavior. There were no differences. If I had not been in my health class I would not have believed this article because of the statement made by the kid, he does not help the writer of this article in any way but instead it made me question the reliability of the article and what else in this article could also be corrupted. I plan on using this information with my two little cousins who are 11 and 13 because soon they will be in high school and they will be faced with weather or not to drink and I hope that I can give them the right information so that they can make the right choice on their own.

Source: The Oklahoman newspaper, Metro State, Popular Beverages May Pose Problem for Young, by Sonya Colberg