The average minimum age for drinking varies around the world. It ranges from 13 in Burkina Faso to a total ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol in Brunei. In most European countries, the minimum age to consume alcohol is 18, while some countries even allow legal consumption at the age of 16. In other parts of Asia, the minimum age for alcohol consumption varies. Malaysia (16), China (18), South Korea (19), Japan (20) and Thailand (20) are notable countries with different minimum age limits. All fifty states had raised their minimum drinking age to 21 by the summer of 1988. South Dakota and Wyoming were the last states to comply with the change. The current legal drinking age of 21 in the United States is a source of disagreement among some Americans. It is higher than the age of majority in many states (18) and the drinking age in most other countries. However, the story of the age of alcohol consumption in America told a very different story. Some states do not allow people under the legal drinking age in liquor stores or bars (generally, the difference between a bar and a restaurant is that food is only served in the latter). Contrary to popular belief, only a few states prohibit minors and young adults from consuming alcohol in private places.
The legal drinking age is the minimum age to buy or drink alcoholic beverages. The minimum age for legal alcohol consumption may differ from the minimum age for purchase in some countries. After prohibition, nearly all states introduced a legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21. However, between 1970 and 1975, 29 states lowered the MLDA to 18, 19 or 20, mostly in response to the change in voting age. Studies conducted at the time showed that motor vehicle accidents among young people increased as states lowered their MLDA. In addition, the “blood boundaries” between states with different MLDAs came to public attention after high-profile accidents in which underage teens drove to a neighboring state with a lower MLDA, drank legally, and crashed on their way home. Stakeholders called on states to increase their MLDA to 21. Some did so in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but others did not. To promote a national drinking age, Congress enacted the National MLDA. A 1988 review by the U.S.
General Accounting Office found that raising the drinking age reduced alcohol consumption among adolescents, driving after drinking among adolescents, and alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents among adolescents. Alcoholic beverage means beer, distilled spirits and wine containing half a percent or more alcohol by volume. Beer includes, but is not limited to, ale, lager, porter, stout, sake and other similar fermented beverages brewed or produced in whole or in part or from a substitute. Distilled spirit drinks include alcohol, ethanol or spirits or wine in any form, including all dilutions and mixtures thereof from any process produced. Health experts cite evidence that the age of 21 is necessary to protect young adults from alcohol dependence. States that have raised the minimum drinking age to 21 have seen a decrease in the number of car accidents. 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? The consumption of alcohol in public places, with the exception of designated drinking areas, is prohibited regardless of age. During the colonial period under British rule, there was no drinking age. It was not uncommon to see young teenagers drinking in taverns. Mexico earns millions of dollars from its tourism industry. If you are traveling there with your family, think about the age of alcohol consumption and the penalties that can result from breaking the law. Bill Crowley, a spokesman for the State Liquor Authority, points out that they care primarily about what happens in the bars, restaurants and businesses they allow — not what can happen in people`s homes. So if a parent tried to buy a drink for their child in a bar, it would be a citable offence. Some states are strict when it comes to underage drinking and may also have special laws to determine blood alcohol concentration (“BAC”), where a person under the age of 21 is considered intoxicated. If you are a miner, these values are often low or set to zero. In general, if you`re under 21, it doesn`t take much alcohol to bring your blood alcohol level up to the levels set in many states. Low levels and some severe penalties are set to deter underage consumption. The minimum drinking age in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec is 18.
Canada`s other provinces and territories allow the legal purchase of alcohol at age 19. Since then, some states have proposed legislation to lower the minimum drinking age to 18, but with little traction. Wisconsin was the first U.S. state to adopt a minimum drinking age in 1839. It prevented the sale of wines or spirits to persons under the age of 18 without parental consent. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 [23 U.S.C. § 158] requires states to prohibit persons under the age of 21 from publicly purchasing or possessing alcoholic beverages as a condition of receiving highway funds from the state. A federal ordinance interpreting the law excludes possession “for established religious purposes” from the definition of “public property”; accompanied by a parent, spouse or legal guardian who is at least 21 years of age; for medical purposes, if prescribed or administered by a physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, hospital or authorized medical facility; in clubs or private institutions; or for the sale, handling, transportation, or supply of liquor by reason of the lawful employment of a person under twenty-one years of age by a duly licensed manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer of liquor” [23 C.F.R. § 1208.3]. 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. In the 1970s, provincial and state policymakers in Canada and the United States switched to lower MLDAs (set at 21 in most provinces, territories and states) to coincide with the age of judicial majority – usually 18. As a result, MLDAs have been reduced in all Canadian provinces [and] in more than half of U.S. states. In Canada, however, two provinces, Ontario (1979) and Saskatchewan (1976), rapidly increased their subsequent AOMLs from ages 18 to 19 in response to some studies showing a link between lowering the drinking age and increasing alcohol-related harms among adolescents and young adults, including increases in motor vehicle crashes and alcohol poisoning among high school students. Following the reduction of AMRs in the United States, research conducted in several states provided convincing evidence of a sharp increase in fatal and non-fatal traffic accident rates that occurred immediately after the introduction of a lower age for drinking. These scientific discoveries increased public pressure on legislators to increase MLDAs, and in response, the federal government introduced the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which required a reduction in highway funding for states if they did not increase their MLDA to 21. All states complied and introduced a 21-year MLDA in 1988. [39] All this ambiguity and the legal confusion it creates could also have real consequences.
