I was recently talking to an 18-year old young man who was working on a construction job.  We started talking about smoking, drinking, and taking drugs.  The young man told me that he quit smoking about a month ago, that he doesn’t take any drugs, but that he drinks every once-in-a-while.  In his own words, he gets “trashed” sometimes when he goes out drinking with his girlfriend. 

I get the sense that many teens in our society get “trashed” on a fairly regular basis.  In short, teenage alcohol abuse is so prevalent in our society that in many respects it seems like it is a rite of passage for becoming an adult.