Alcohol: Problems and Solutions

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Minimum Legal Drinking Ages around the World

The legal drinking age for different countries varies dramatically, from zero to 21, as seen in the following table.

World Drinking Ages

No Drinking Age	16	17	18	19	20	21
Albania Armenia Azerbaijan Comoros Equatorial Guinea Fiji Gabon Ghana Guinea-Bissau Jamaica Kyrgyuzstan Morocco Solomon Islands* Swaziland* Togo Tonga Viet Nam	Antigua Barbados Belgium Georgia Germany Greece* Luxembourg Malta Norway* Poland Portugal Spain (16 in Asturias)	Cyprus	Algeria Argentina Australia Bahamas Barbados Belarus Belize Bermuda Bolivia Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Bulgaria Cameroon Canada (19 in some provinces) Cape Verde Central African Republic Chile China Columbia Congo, Republic of Costa Rica Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt* El Salvador Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Finland France Guatemala Guyana Hungary Indonesia Ireland Israel Jamaica Kazakhstan Kenya Latvia Lesoto Lithuania Malawi Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Mozambique Namibia New Zealand Niger Nigeria Norway* Panama Papua New Guinea Peru Phillippines Russia Samoa Seychelles Singapore Slovak Republic South Africa Spain (16 in Asturias) St. Maarten Sweden* Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda Ukrane United Kingdom (age 5 with parents) Uruguay Vanuatu Venezuela Zambia Zimbabwe	Nicaragua South Korea	Iceland Japan Paraguay	Fiji Pakastan (for non-Muslims, prohibited for Muslims) Palau Sri Lanka United States*
* Various qualifications and/or exceptions apply.

Although it is commonly believed that the minimum drinking age in the U.S. is 21, people can legally drink below that age under many different circumstances.

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public possession of alcohol age to 21. States that did not comply faced a reduction in highway funds under the Federal Highway Aid Act.... It does not prohibit persons under 21 (also called youth or minors) from drinking. The term "public possession" is strictly defined and does not apply to possession for the following:

• An established religious purpose, when accompanied by a parent, spouse or legal guardian age 21 or older
• Medical purposes when prescribed or administered by a licensed physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, hospital or medical institution
• In private clubs or establishments
• In the course of lawful employment by a duly licensed manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer. ¹

Many of the states that have chosen to specifically prohibit alcohol consumption by those under age 21 have a variety of exceptions. For example,

Some States allow an exception for consumption when a family member consents and/or is present. States vary widely in terms of which relatives may consent or must be present for this exception to apply and in what circumstances the exception applies. Sometimes a reference is made simply to "family" or "family member" without further elaboration.

...

Some States allow an exception for consumption on private property. States vary in the extent of the private property exception which may extend to all private locations, private residences only, or in the home of a parent or guardian only. In some jurisdictions, the location exception is conditional on the presence and/or consent of the parent, legal guardian, or legal-age spouse. ²

Some States also allow exceptions for educational purposes (e.g., students in culinary schools), religious purposes (e.g., sacramental use of alcoholic beverages), or medical purposes. ³

Exceptions

The following map shows the exceptions to the minimum age of 21 for the consumption of alcohol as of January 1, 2008 ³

Note: This map is based on statutes and regulations only. It does does not include exceptions created by case law (judicial decisions), custom, or application of constitutional protections.

The problem of identifying the optimum minimum drinking age to reduce alcohol abuse is a serious one. It involves issues of freedom, responsibility, parental rights, religion, politics and many other realms of life.

The minimum drinking age of 21 in the U.S. appears to be not only ineffective but actually counter-productive. Although it was passed with the best of intentions, it has had some of the worst of outcomes.

In reaction to these problems, the president emeritus of Middlebury College created the organization, Choose Responsibility, to promote discussion and public debate about how best to reduce alcohol abuse. It has suggested a number of ideas.

Choose Responsibility believes federal legislation should not penalize states that choose to participate in a pilot alcohol education program based on a minimum drinking age of 18. Thus, it is the groups's belief that:

• States that present a plan for educating and licensing young adults that can maintain low levels of fatalities while lowering the drinking age ought to be granted a waiver of the 10% reduction penalty for a minimum of five years.
• States should create a mechanism to collect relevant data required to monitor the effects of the change in law.
• States should submit these statistics to Congress (or its designate), along with an analysis of the effects of the waiver from its inception, and may or may not request either an extension of the waiver.
• Individual state proposals must include the guidelines for eligibility and suspension of licenses proposed in the model program. ⁵

Choose Responsibility also proposes a new approach to alcohol education program similar to Drivers' Education in that it would:

• Be taught by a certified alcohol educator, trained specifically to cover the legal, ethical, health and safety issues of the curriculum and skilled in dealing with young adults.
• Consist of at least 40 hours of instruction, with the most time spent in the classroom setting, supplemented by sessions of community involvement—DWI court hearings, safe ride taxi programs, community forums.
• Require a partnership between home and school.
• Entail a final examination that subjects must pass for licensing.
• Provide accurate and unbiased alcohol education for both drinkers and abstainers.

The alcohol education course curriculum would:

• Be a model for reality-based alcohol education.
• Involve collaboration between state, school, and home.
• Create a basis for responsible choices where alcohol is concerned, and wed those expectations of responsible behavior to a system of certification and provisional licensing for 18-20 year-olds.
• Be developed and implemented on a state-by-state basis.
• Provide accurate, truthful, and unbiased alcohol education. It would acknowledge the social reality of alcohol in American society, but it would advocate neither abstinence nor consumption. It would seek only to create a basis for responsible choices where alcohol is concerned.

Upon successful completion of the curriculum, each student of the program would receive a license, entitling the recipient to all the privileges and responsibilities of adult alcohol purchase, possession, and consumption of alcohol. ⁶

Choose Responsibility has suggested changes in state policies to reduce alcohol abuse. It points out that states are allowed to legislate any of the following exceptions to the law prohibiting purchase, possession and consumption of alcohol by anyone under the age of 21:

• For an established religious purpose
• When accompanied by a parent, guardian, or spouse who is 21 years or older
• For medical purposes when prescribed by a physician
• In private clubs or establishments

A majority of states take advantage of these allowances by legislating exceptions to possession or consumption of alcohol by "minors" under 21, and to the furnishing of alcohol by legal-aged individuals. For example, 30 states currently allow for parents to provide their children with alcohol in the privacy of their own homes. But in the remaining 20, parents are barred from providing their children with alcohol until the child's 21st birthday. Those who adhere to strict rules at home in keeping with state laws are, in fact, prevented from introducing young adults to alcohol in a controlled home environment. This often relegates initial drinking experiences to settings where there is little or no supervision or guidance and a great deal of peer pressure to experiment. Parents across the country should be allowed and encouraged to provide their own children (and not their children's friends) with alcohol in the context of teaching and modeling responsible decisions about alcohol and its use. ⁷

There is much research evidence to suggest that these changes could reduce the extent of alcohol abuse in the U.S. Some organizations with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo oppose even discussing any of these proposals. But reducing alcohol abuse is a very important matter in the public interest so let the discussion begin.

 

Note: This material is presented for information and educational purposes only and and is not a substitute for the services of an attorney. Laws and their interpretation are constantly changing. There is no guarantee, explicit or implicit, that the information provided is accurate and correct. No legal opinion or advice is provided and none should be inferred. Those in need of information about the applicability of laws to their particular set of circumstances, or any other legal matter, should consult a qualified lawyer.