I thought that unless you were 21 you couldn't drink at all in the States....but I've recently read somewhere that if you're 18 you can drink if you're with your parents...? or something like this? and if it's true, does this happen in each and every State or only in some?
thanks a bunch, I'm curious.
2007-02-17 02:23:49 · 5 answers · asked by Sylvia 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
read it here
http://alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/index.asp?Type=BAS_APIS&SEC={0D5C719E-FCE8-4E15-A367-4145C655505F}&DE={E6F19624-0ADC-437F-917D-5E7CBC9F58B9}
2007-02-17 02:36:21 · update #1
In Michigan you may not consume alcohol with or without your parents. Your parents can be charged with furnishing alcohol to a minor if they furnish you with alcohol. They can be charged with allowing a minor to consume alcohol in their home, if it can't be proven they furnished it to you. You can be charged with illegal possesion of alcohol if there is any alcohol in your system whenever the police come in contact with you wheter or not you have any alcohol in your presence.
2007-02-17 02:39:06 · answer #1 · answered by JC 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The USA is not just one big country, it is a group of states that are bound together in a Federal Union.
This means that under the Constitution some things fall under the powers of the Federal Government (war, foriegn affairs, interstate commerce) but many other things are left up to the indivdual states.
Drinking is one of those things. Different states have different laws on the subject. In some states (Texas and Arkansas are two) the legislature couldn't agree on what they law should be so they left it up to the COUNTY to decide what the law is. Some counties are "dry" and you can't serve alcohol at all, others you can have bars, some you can have beer and wine at a resturant but not hard liquor, some you can have liquor but only in members only clubs. It varies a lot.
For a while different states used to have different drinking ages, you could drink at 18 in one state but not until you were 21 in another. This meant that 19 year olds would pack into the car, drive over the state line, get drunk, then try to drive home and often get killed on the way. It also used to be that young soldiers could drink if they were on an Army post, but not if they were off post. (The Army sort of figured if they could trust you with a tank, a machine gun, or a nuclear weapon, they could trust you with a beer.)
Mothers Against Drunk Driving pretty much changed all that. They got the Federal Government to make 21 the minimum drinking age on Federal property. They wanted a Federal Law making 21 the drinking age. Problem was the Federal government doesn't have the power to make a Federal drinking age.
What they did was tell the States "If you want to get any money from us for highway funds, you will make your state drinking age 21". All or almost all of the states did that. We are talking BILLIONS in highway money here. They couldn't afford not to.
So a lot of the rules are different from State to State, even though 21 is the minimum drinking age in all or almost all of the USA.
That being said, I don't think any state has a law against you drinking if you are with your parents... as long as you are like over 12...(giving gin to a 4 year old would be child abuse). We are a free country and still respect the parents right to raise their kids.
2007-02-17 12:01:27 · answer #2 · answered by Larry R 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know where you heard this, but the laegal drinking age is 21. It doesn't matter if you are with your parents, or not. It is this way in all 50 states.
2007-02-17 10:29:08 · answer #3 · answered by celticwarrior7758 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is not true, as far as I know.
If a parent gave alcohol to their 18 year old child, that would be a crime.
2007-02-17 10:27:54 · answer #4 · answered by Venin_Noir 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You are allowed to consume if you are with your parents only within the confines of your home.
2007-02-17 10:33:48 · answer #5 · answered by Christina 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋