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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2529 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 26, 2026

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23-24 year olds are fine. They [...] can drink, pretty much not different than a proper adult of 30 years.

So can 18 year olds?

Not in America

Which is a deficiency specific to American governing, not any sort of attribute of 18 year olds.

Regardless, it is a rite of passage in the traditional anthropological sense. Not having passed through the tribe’s rituals denotes one as unable to participate in groups with post ritual behavior. The divergence between when a tribe administers its rites is left to the tribe.

Eaglecrowing Schoolshooting Freespeechia notably doesn't legally allow drinking until 21, and many seem to obey.

Since when has that really stopped anyone much?

Many moons ago when I was 19 I visited an older friend I knew from IRC who lived in the Midwest. I ended up hanging out with a bunch of local 17-19 year olds there and while my friend's wife forbade him from buying us booze, the only thing limiting (but certainly not stopping) us getting alcohol was how much we could tolerate the company one rather annoying girl who was 21. I don't think I've ever drunk as much alcohol while traveling as on that trip.

The same way some of my friends here in Finland had no problem getting drunk when they were 15-16 even though the legal age is 18.

There's a big difference between "can't" and "many don't much want to".

That's the legal age to purchase, which is not the same as a ban on minors consuming alcohol - I am not familiar with any state with such a ban (although some states ban possession by minors), and many US states specifically permit minors to consume alcohol with parental sign-off.

I am not familiar with any state with such a ban

Welcome to Texas!

(I actually love some of the carve-outs there - immunity for the first minor to request medical assistance for another person's possible alcohol overdose is a level of considering-second-order-effects you don't see enough of in legal codes)

many US states specifically permit minors to consume alcohol with parental sign-off.

I first looked up the exact rules a few years ago, and thereby ended up being the kill-joy for my niece's (IIRC 20th?) birthday, where the plan was "parental sign-off for all her friends" but the legal exemption turned out to be something like "each kid's parent has to be the one to provide that kid's alcohol and be physically present when they drink it". I wasn't going to rat them out or anything - "sign-off" seems morally sufficient to me - but her mother wanted to know the law and didn't want to break it.

I try to make it up to her these days by mixing fancy cocktails at get-togethers, and the funny thing in hindsight is that her alcohol tolerance turns out to be roughly "split a drink, nothing too strong, with her boyfriend taking more than half". Just the bottle-of-soju-each they'd had planned for that birthday would have blindsided her.

Texas law is Like That, because the dominant party is dominated by Germans trying to regulate Mexicans and Scots-Irish, and has been for a long time.

Aha! I knew that Texas had the parental sign-off waiver, so I didn't realize that they latched on consumption rather than possession.

IIRC 20th

Yeah I do think that the age should be lowered to 18 (at least). Such a rule might make sense for minors, but it's a bit farcical for someone who may have graduated high school two or three years ago living halfway across the state with his own car and job to have to drink within arms-reach of his parents. With the trend of appellate courts killing under-21 handgun bans, I wouldn't be surprised if this is a future development.

In practice it's a ban on consumption, since it is also illegal to purchase alcohol for minors (outside of parents letting their kids drink).

I think practically speaking it's a ban on consumption outside the home.

True. I guess in the specific case of a gaming group, they could meet up at someone's house if they want everyone to be able to get their drink on (and not everyone is 21).

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