Can you let your teen drink at home? What parents should know about Georgia alcohol laws
When my parents were 18, they could legally drink. However, by the time I was born, the legal age was turned to 21.
But why?
Why change the drinking age?
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC): “A review by the U.S. General Accounting Office, conducted in 1988, found that raising the drinking age reduced youth drinking, youth driving after drinking, and alcohol-related traffic accidents among youth.”
Before the new law, “blood borders” where the drinking age was different in neighboring states, became an issue. Teenagers would drive to states with lower drinking ages, drink and crash as they drove home.
So, what about now?
It is currently illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to “purchase, attempt to purchase, or knowingly possess any alcoholic beverage.”
The law also says that people 21 years or younger cannot misrepresent their age or use false identification in order to buy alcohol.
However, there are some exceptions to the law when it comes to drinking at home with a parent.
Can I legally drink at my parents house if I’m under 21?
There are still some legal ways to drink under the age of 21 in Georgia, but they require parental supervision and permission.
The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) prohibits alcohol consumption by and purchase for people under the age of 21, but it has a couple of exceptions to this rule.
Those exceptions include:
If you are at a private residence of your parent AND
If your parent is present
This also applies to the furnishing of alcoholic beverages to minors, which can be done only by the parent in the private residence.
However, the FTC encourages fully abiding by the drinking age: “Injuries from teen drinking are not inevitable and reducing teen access to alcohol is a national priority.”
Can parents throw underage drinking parties for minors if they are present?
Under Georgia law, even though it is legal for a minor to drink at their parent’s house with their supervision, it is not legal to provide alcohol for minors that aren’t your own.
Several Georgia counties and municipalities even have “social host laws” to protect minors from underage drinking parties. If law enforcement can prove that the host (or parents in this case) knowingly held an underage drinking party, they could be charged with “providing a place for underage drinking.” Penalties include paying fines, community service or even jail time.
According to Teen and Young Adult Defense Attorneys at Ghanouni: “Austell, Acworth, Kennesaw, Cherokee County, and unincorporated Cobb County are among the municipalities that have enacted stricter social host ordinances.”
Does this rule and exception surprise you? Let us know in the comments or email me at cmadden@mcclatchy.com
This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Can you let your teen drink at home? What parents should know about Georgia alcohol laws."
