Legal Drinking Age across the Us

This card masks an incredible complexity and variety of exceptions for minors. Some states make exceptions when minors are allowed to consume alcohol. Others make exceptions if they are allowed to own it. Still other states, such as Arkansas, do not have exemptions for possession or consumption by minors, but still make exceptions for parents who want to provide alcohol to their children. All of this adds up to a confusing mess that is almost impossible for parents, teens, and even lawyers to understand. Despite this flexibility for states, Congress retains the power to use financial and tax incentives to promote certain alcohol policies, such as the legal drinking age. The Uniform Federal Drinking Age Act of 1984 sets the legal drinking age at 21, and every state adheres to this standard. In general, a “family member” is a parent, guardian or spouse. But laws vary widely from state to state as to when a family member can provide or permit consumption from a person under the age of 21.

It`s not just ordinary people who struggle to understand these apparent contradictions — some states even publish seemingly contradictory information about their juvenile laws. For example, if you`re looking for underage alcohol laws in New York City, you`ll find this booklet from the State Liquor Authority that pretty clearly states, “If you`re under 21, it`s a violation of the law to consume alcohol with intent to consume alcohol.” The minimum drinking age also means that establishments can discriminate against you based on your age and deny you access to an establishment, even if you don`t drink. There are also laws that prevent you from having certain jobs that involve serving or selling alcohol, or that punish people who let young people drink on their property. In addition, in each state, the acceptable blood alcohol limit for seniors is 0.08, but young people are subject to much stricter blood alcohol laws that allow for a very small margin of error. Along with Oregon, California has the oldest MLDA 21 laws in the country. In 2016, there was an initiative to lower the drinking age to 18, but it didn`t get much support. However, the consumption of alcohol by minors is allowed in the presence of a responsible adult. It was made to help parents teach their children the importance of moderation in alcohol consumption.

It`s one of the seemingly iron rules of adolescence: In the United States, you can`t legally drink until you`re 21. Of course, our laws on underage consumption are regularly flouted. More than half of 20-year-old Americans have tried alcohol at some point in their lives, according to the latest figures from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. As can be seen in the table below, since the repeal of prohibition in 1933, there has been great volatility in the age of alcohol consumption in the states. Shortly after the 21st Amendment was ratified in December, most states set their purchasing age at 21, which was the voting age at the time. Most of these limits remained constant until the early 1970s. From 1969 to 1976, about 30 states lowered their purchasing age, usually to 18. This was largely due to the fact that the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 with the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971. Many states began lowering their minimum drinking age, most in 1972 or 1973. [2] [3] [4] Twelve states have maintained their purchasing age at 21 since the repeal of prohibition and have never changed it. But New York`s Drinking Act for minors makes an explicit exception for drinking with parents: “A person under the age of twenty-one may possess any alcoholic beverage with the intention of consuming it if the alcoholic beverage is given. to a person under twenty-one years of age by his or her parents or guardian. Despite these improvements, too many teenagers still drink.

In 2012, 42% of Grade 12 students, 28% of Grade 10 students, and 11% of Grade 8 students reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days. In the same year, approximately 24% of Grade 12 students, 16% of Grade 10 students, and 5% of Grade 8 students reported excessive drinking in the past two weeks. 2. On private premises, not selling liquor, without parental consent: The consumption of alcohol by minors is not prohibited in some states in private premises that do not sell liquor, although it may be illegal for adults to provide alcohol to minors in those states. Each state sets its own specific requirements for what is considered legal. In 1984, the federal government passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, setting the National Minimum Drinking Age at 21 (“MLDA”). It was phased in over a few years, and today, all 50 states require you to be 21 or older to buy alcohol. So why discuss drinking age by state? As part of undercover work or research, it is legal in some states for a minor employed in law enforcement to purchase and consume alcohol. This is an understandable attempt to keep these enforcement efforts unhindered. From 1976 to 1983, several states voluntarily raised their purchasing age to 19 (or, less frequently, 20 or 21), in part to combat drunk driving deaths.

[ref. In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which required states to raise their purchasing and public ownership age to 21 in October 1986 or lose 10 percent of their federal funding for roads. By mid-1988, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had raised the age of purchase to 21 (but not Puerto Rico, Guam or the Virgin Islands, see additional notes below). South Dakota and Wyoming were the last two states to serve the 21-year term. The current drinking age of 21 remains a point of contention among many Americans because it is above the age of majority (18 in most states) and above the drinking age in most other countries. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act is also considered a circumvention of the Tenth Amendment by Congress. Although the debates were not widely publicized, some states proposed legislation to lower their drinking age,[5] while Guam raised the drinking age to 21 in July 2010. [6] For example, you can lean in 30 states if you are 18, in four states with nineteen, in one state with twenty, and 15 states with 21. However, you may need a license to pour drinks depending on the condition. The minimum age for waiters bringing drinks to the table may differ from those behind the bar. Plus, in North Carolina, you can pour eighteen beers and wine, but no alcohol until you`re 21.

As you can see, this quickly becomes confusing when it comes to legal age and alcohol. 3. For religious purposes: The consumption of alcohol by minors is permitted in some states for religious purposes. Some states require alcohol to be provided by an official religious representative and/or limit the type of alcohol allowed. Each state sets its own specific requirements for what is considered legal. * For established religious purposes;* If a person under twenty-one years of age is accompanied by a parent, spouse or guardian twenty-one years of age or older;* For medical purposes, if purchased as an over-the-counter drug or prescribed or administered by a physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, a hospital or an authorized medical facility;* In a private dwelling, which includes a residential dwelling and up to twenty contiguous hectares on which the dwelling belonging to the same person who owns it is situated;* the sale, handling, transport or service of supplying alcoholic beverages on the basis of the lawful ownership of an establishment or the lawful employment of a person under twenty-one years of age by a duly licensed producer, wholesaler or retailer of alcoholic beverages.