As a young person, seeing the media depict youth “party culture” and experiencing that culture is something entirely different. Media representation of drugs is often glamorized and, even if adolescents are informed about the dangers of drug use, they remain impressionable and, therefore, likely to imitate such behaviors. The opportunity to see these cultures first-hand in two different countries is very fascinating. When I was sixteen, I spent a summer abroad in Europe and saw young people immersed in these situations. While in a convenience store in the university town of Hatfield, England, I saw a girl who was under the legal age to buy alcohol (even for Europe) being sold alcohol without any identification. I was quite surprised. Such a situation would certainly not occur in the United States, as attitudes toward young people with drug and alcohol addictions are generally negative. As an avid viewer of British teen dramas, I had seen these types of "European situations" depicted on television, but never thought they were true or had any noticeable effect on urban youth today. This led me to constantly question the connection between media portrayals of youth drug and alcohol use and their actual drug and alcohol use in two very different cultures that speak the same language. In this documentary essay, I will attempt to analyze what academics think about television's depiction of drug use and its effects on the youth of the current century. Focusing on the television show Skins, produced in both the United States and the United Kingdom, I will use this information to compare and contrast the portrayal of illicit use by young people in both units.... .. middle of paper .. ....s. “Tony.” US skins. MTV Networks. MTV, Toronto, Canada, January 17, 2011. Television. Estes, Mark O. “Skins UK vs. Skins US: An Analysis. » UK versus US: an analysis. TV Over Mind, March 4, 2011. Web. February 21, 2012. .Gerbner, George. “Drugs on TV, in Movies and Music Videos.” Media, sex, violence and drugs in the global village. Cullompton, UK: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. 69-76. Print.Males, Mike. ““Alarming” CASA linking teen social media, TV viewing and drug and alcohol use may have been faked.” YouthFacts.org. Youthfacts, August 23, 2011. Web. February 23, 2012. .Rickman, Dina. “Ketamine Reality.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, April 1, 2010. Web. February 21. 2012. .