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In Most of the US, It Is Legal to Drink Alcohol Under the Age of 21
May 9, 2008
It is a common, but erroneous, belief that the United States has the highest legal drinking age in the world (aside from countries which ban it outright, such as Saudi Arabia). In general, this is true, due to the National Minimum Age Drinking Act of 1984. However, this federal mandate only forces states to set the minimum age for purchasing and public possession of alcohol to 21, under pressure of reducing federal highway funding for that state. It is still up to the individual state to set the specific laws regarding this, and most states have a whole list of exceptions to the law. It turns out that only seven states - Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia - totally prohibit underage alcohol consumption.
Twenty states have absolutely no law against alcohol consumption by minors, and thus use laws against alcohol consumption or other violations to press charges against underaged consumers of alcohol. However, all of the other states (aside from the seven mentioned above) have specific exemptions. These exemptions include drinking alcohol with family members, drinking for religious purposes (such as wine during Catholic Mass), and consumption under orders from a physician (for example, a doctor may order a youth to ingest alcohol as a treatment for methanol poisoning without fear of the state government). In some states, the question of whether possession on private property is prohibited has either not yet been legally tested or found to not count as “public possession.” For instance, it is legal in California for minors to possess alcohol in a private location. In almost all states, you are allowed to possess alcohol if it is necessary in the course of your job, such as bar tending or distributing beer.
Several other places have specific exemptions to the minimum drinking age. Already, military bases within 50 miles of a locale where the drinking age differs are allowed to modify the drinking age of personnel on that base. In practice, this applies only to military bases near Mexico and Canada, since the established drinking age in all 50 states is 21. An example of a military base where the minimum drinking age has been lowered to 18 is Fort Bliss, Texas. Many states allow minors to drink as long as they are either in their own home, their guardian’s home, or in the presence of their legal guardian. In several states, if your spouse is over the age of 21 but you are not, you are allowed to drink alcohol in their presence, as they are acting as your legal guardian.
To see exactly what the prohibitions against alcohol are in your state, and what they have been at different times, you can use this extremely useful tool. It’s basically a search engine for finding out a simplified version of the laws for a particular state at a particular time in history.
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