Drinking in the USA

[stogie bear]

In the US of Freedom, 18 year olds can vote, go to war, get married, adopt children, sign legal documents, gamble online, etc.

So why can't they sit down in a local Applebees and have a beer? Why can't adults in the freedom centre of the known universe have a glass of red wine with their chicken wings?

Mind you - I'm not against it. It's great that in the United States of Victorian Purity the 18 to 20 year old punks ain't spoiling my fun by being loud and obnoxious, etc.

Mind you... in Mexico kids can drink at pretty much any age and there's almost never any trouble. Same in France. Kids in the UK can get sozzled from the age of 14 if they are with an adult and eating a 'bona fide' meal...

[Guest]

In the Bible Belt, which is quite huge, you can't even have a drink in restaurants at 21 without the world's most ridiculous card that permits you to drink. Sorry, forgotten the name of that useless thing, but an 'merican can remind us. I have about 15 of them from my trips to Dallas.

[katoeylover]

(stogie bear @ Apr. 21 2007,17:26) 18 year olds can gamble online

'Fraid not.

All online gambling is illegal, many directors/owners who own offshore betting are now arrested if they enter the states..

[kahuna]

(stogie bear @ Apr. 22 2007,01:26) Mind you... in Mexico kids can drink at pretty much any age and there's almost never any trouble.

Sorry...legal age to drink in a bar in Mexico is 18 years old...course there's no trouble...they're all to busy running drugs to Estados Unidos...

[kahuna]

(ziggystardust @ Apr. 22 2007,02:00) In the Bible Belt, which is quite huge, you can't even have a drink in restaurants at 21 without the world's most ridiculous card that permits you to drink. Sorry, forgotten the name of that useless thing, but an 'merican can remind us. I have about 15 of them from my trips to Dallas.

Many States in the USA have "bue laws" (actually they exist in Canada as well) some of which control the sale of alcohol...in some States it varies by county...in other words, you can drink freely in one town...cross into the next county and you can't...but, I've traveled around a bit and most of the blue laws are kinda sorta like Thai Visa laws...there is always a way around them...I suppose that was what your little cards are for...

[stogie bear]

(kahuna @ Apr. 22 2007,01:38) Sorry...legal age to drink in a bar in Mexico is 18 years old...course there's no trouble...they're all to busy running drugs to Estados Unidos...

I lived in Mexico for 5 years... and whilst you are correct that the law is 18 for drinking it is NEVER enforced. (Apart from the parts of Mexico that Americans go to of course! That is heavily policed.)

But in 'normal' Mexico the drinking age is up to the bar tender. I lived in 'normal' Mexico and never once saw any problems with kids getting drunk.

[stogie bear]

(ziggystardust @ Apr. 22 2007,01:00) In the Bible Belt, which is quite huge, you can't even have a drink in restaurants at 21 without the world's most ridiculous card that permits you to drink. Sorry, forgotten the name of that useless thing, but an 'merican can remind us. I have about 15 of them from my trips to Dallas.

Ha ha... I remember that from my days of living in Dallas... If I went to some towns outside of Dallas we had to sign up for a membership so we could legally drink. I also can't remember what this joke was called...

[Guest]

Canada has extremely strict drinking laws.

All bars are required to ask you for your driver's license or health insurance card if you look below 18.

So when I was 14, the local bar near school used to sell us fake health cards whenever they knew the cops were coming by.

I don't remember ever having a problem buying booze or getting into a bar from 14 onwards. Granted, I'm an old 'fella, so times likely have changed.

[moe666]

Ziggy, you were being sponsered by the bar tender as his guest. In Texas the land of macho men and one idiot president in a lot of the counties you could only buy a drink by the glass in a private club hince the membership card.
I don't know if it is still the same are not I really have no reason to go back are a desire to.
A lot of states changed there laws to allow 18 year olds to drink in the late 60s and early 70s. Someone did a study that said they were responsible for a far greater number of DUIs than the older population. So big brother says if you want highway money make it 21 for drinking. So there you have it.

[kaos]

(stogie bear @ Apr. 22 2007,02:55)

(ziggystardust @ Apr. 22 2007,01:00) In the Bible Belt, which is quite huge, you can't even have a drink in restaurants at 21 without the world's most ridiculous card that permits you to drink. Sorry, forgotten the name of that useless thing, but an 'merican can remind us. I have about 15 of them from my trips to Dallas.

Ha ha... I remember that from my days of living in Dallas... If I went to some towns outside of Dallas we had to sign up for a membership so we could legally drink. I also can't remember what this joke was called...

Stogie i think it was called unicard
now in NTX dont have any more such restriction and you can drink beer and wine freely (for higher spirits you have to go elsewhere though).

[stogie bear]

In Texas the land of macho men and one idiot president ...

I think that's two, actually and that's just in the last couple of decades...

[BAM]

Thats what I liked about living in Jamaica as a teen...  there was and i'm sure still is no drinking age at all.
I was 14 and could drink all the Red Stripe I wanted    
But I also kept a 'garbage bag' full of ganja in the pool house!  

[ShockToe]

Up until 1984 individual states legislated the minimum age for alcohol purchase/consumption. Some states had a limit of 18, some 21, with variations (e.g.: South Dakota, 19 year olds could purchase 3.2 beer) on the type of alcohol as well. My states actually lowered the age from 21 to 18, when I was 18!

In 1984 Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, and tied federal highway funding to states to force them to fall in line. I believe the Supreme Court basically upheld the legistlation (1987) even though it clearly limits the Tenth Ammendment re: Congressional regulation of state affairs.

The logic, such as it is, is that bordering states with different age limits, run into serious issues with minors traveling to the state with the lower age limit, i.e. increased auto fatalities. hence the linkage to federal highway funding.

Blue laws, such as they are in the U.S., typically refer to the sale of alcohol (perhaps banned on Sundays), rather than the consumption. In my home state it goes by town, and I think there are still a few "dry" towns left. So no bars, liquor stores, or restaurants serving alcohol (but the local VFW can serve booze). You can purchase alcohol in neighboring towns, bring it home and consume it, of course.

No question the U.S. has an interesting history re: alcohol (moonshiners, taxes , Prohibition, smuggling, bans on advertising, etc.).

[stogie bear]

Stogie i think it was called unicard...

That was it! Thanks for reminding me! Spent many times filling out the paperwork for that shit-town Lewisville when I left Irving for a beer!