„It`s a really good way to deal with the serious problem of binge drinking, especially on college campuses,“ said Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, who has the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College in his district. If you read the headline, you might wonder why anyone would want their underage child to drink with them in a bar. I don`t have an answer to that question, but I do on the issue of Minnesota and minors drinking with their parents. A sign warns customers of the drinking age at the Big 10 Restaurant and Bar in Minneapolis on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin) For them, this means states can change the drinking age without losing federal dollars. However, unlike other states, there are certain circumstances in which possession and consumption of alcohol by persons under the age of 21 is actually legal in Minnesota. More than 130 university presidents and chancellors have signed a declaration under the Amethyst Initiative stating that the current law is not working and that the minimum drinking age should be reconsidered. Eric Kaler, president of the University of Minnesota, is not one of them. He refused, through a spokeswoman, to comment on Kahn`s bills or the issue of lowering the drinking age. He said society has made strides in drinking and driving, but „everyone who runs colleges tells us that their binge drinking in college is as much or more than ever.“ Hoppe said that as long as federal funds for highways aren`t in jeopardy, he`s cautiously optimistic about a change in the age of alcohol. A Minnesota representative suggests lowering the drinking age to 18, what does that mean for a dry campus like Winona State University? First and foremost, our state is a zero-tolerance state that imposes the „Not a Drop“ law.

This means that anyone under the age of 21 is absolutely not allowed to drive a motor vehicle while consuming or after ingesting an alcoholic beverage called „inner possession“. Any detectable amount of alcohol concentration is above the legal limit of zero. Hahn has personally stated that she believes 18 is the legal drinking age because it is the legal age of adulthood, but there are arguments that the brain is not fully developed until the age of 25. If your minor has been charged with illegal possession of alcohol, a Minnesota law enforcement attorney can review your case and offer you the strongest possible defense strategy to protect your teen`s future. Their other bill would allow minors to drink in bars and restaurants if accompanied by a parent, guardian or spouse of full age. Rep. Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis introduced two different bills under which one would allow 18-year-olds to drink legally in a restaurant or bar, and another bill would allow 18-year-olds to drink if a parent or guardian accompanies them. „I don`t think it would have a big impact because there`s already a market for underage drinking,“ Hahn said. Part of the objection to Kahn`s past efforts was based on the 1984 federal law, which threatened states with losing 10 percent of their federal funding for highways if they did not raise the drinking age to 21.

Rep. Joe Atkins of Inver Grove Heights, the top Democrat on the House Commerce Committee, opposes lowering the drinking age, but said he is inclined to agree with Kahn on federal money. As can be seen in the table below, since the repeal of prohibition in 1933, there has been great volatility in the age of alcohol consumption in the states. Shortly after the 21st Amendment was ratified in December, most states set their purchasing age at 21, which was the voting age at the time. Most of these limits remained constant until the early 1970s. From 1969 to 1976, about 30 states lowered their purchasing age, usually to 18. This was largely due to the fact that the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 with the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971. Many states began lowering their minimum drinking age, most in 1972 or 1973.

[2] [3] [4] Twelve states have maintained their purchasing age at 21 since the repeal of prohibition and have never changed it. „In general, if the age is lowered, alcohol awareness needs to be taught differently,“ she said. „We are taught that drinking is bad, dangerous and unhealthy. We are not taught what responsible alcohol consumption is. „If you can go die for your country, but you can`t drink beer, I can`t understand that,“ said Andrew Deziel, 18, of Bloomington, who drank a glass of water at the Big 10 restaurant and bar on the U-campus campus Thursday. House Commerce President Joe Hoppe, R-Chaska, said he would hold a hearing on Kahn`s bills and/or his own laws to lower the drinking age. He said, however, that he would not lower it until age 19 to provide additional assurance that children of high school age would not qualify. It is also generally illegal for minors to buy, try or possess an alcoholic beverage in order to consume it, and it is also forbidden to misrepresent your age when trying to buy alcohol. Minnesota law states that a person reached the legal drinking age after 8 a.m. on the day they turn 21. Her favourite bill would lower the drinking age in bars and restaurants to 18.

The idea is to let young people learn to drink socially, as they do in Europe, she said, so that they do not look for fake identity cards or illegally stock up on alcohol and drink alcohol in their rooms. A spokesman for the state`s Department of Public Safety said the agency opposes lowering the drinking age. And Dayton said he wasn`t convinced by what he called the „Phyllis Kahn Special.“ The idea of the 21-year-old minimum is to deter drunk driving and reduce alcohol consumption among young people, Hoppe said. „We can choose to buy tobacco, we can choose to die for our country, we can choose to marry and we are now legally considered adults, why can`t we decide to have a glass of wine with dinner,“ she said. * For established religious purposes;* If a person under twenty-one years of age is accompanied by a parent, spouse or guardian twenty-one years of age or older;* For medical purposes, if purchased as an over-the-counter drug or prescribed or administered by a physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, a hospital or an authorized medical facility;* In a private dwelling, which includes a residential dwelling and up to twenty contiguous hectares on which the dwelling belonging to the same person who owns it is situated;* the sale, handling, transport or service of supplying alcoholic beverages on the basis of the lawful ownership of an establishment or the lawful employment of a person under twenty-one years of age by a duly licensed producer, wholesaler or retailer of alcoholic beverages. In most cases, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 in Minnesota to consume alcohol. Factors that influence court decisions on how sentencing is imposed include the age of the offender, whether the juvenile was legally drunk at the time, and whether an offender has ever committed MIP crimes or other illegal behavior. In all cases, a conviction will result in a mandatory fine of at least $100. He said he hadn`t heard of anyone in his district in recent years wanting to change the drinking age. „The only place I`ve heard of it is here on Capitol Hill,“ he said. Lowering it, Atkins said, would be „a tough elevator.“ Sen. Branden Petersen, R-Andover, said he plans to introduce Senate versions of Kahn`s bill.

He said he might even suggest lowering the age of bars and liquor stores to 18, as that`s the legal adult age for everything else. From 1976 to 1983, several states voluntarily raised their purchasing age to 19 (or, less frequently, 20 or 21), in part to combat drunk driving deaths. [ref. needed] In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which required states to raise their purchasing and public ownership age to 21 in October 1986 or lose 10 percent of their federal funding for roads.