Legal Drinking Age In France
Legal Drinking Age In France: France unlike other countries has a liberal approach when it comes to alcohol and its consumption. In France, there are two drinking ages, 18 years and 16 years with the supervision of an adult.
What Legal Drinking Age Means
The legal drinking age can be seen as the lowest age or age limit by which a person is permitted by the law to make use of an alcoholic beverage. The age limit for alcohol consumption can be different from the age limit for purchasing an alcoholic beverage, depending on the country involved.
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In most countries, these laws have certain circumstances where they are made valid and it varies between countries. Also, most laws have regulated the consumption of alcohol in public places and not in private places. Excluding the UK which has an age limit of five for consuming alcohol in private places under supervision.
In most countries, for the consumption of different alcoholic drinks, there are different age limits. However, the minimum legal drinking age in most countries is 18 or 19 years old.
Generally, the reason for the law behind the legal drinking age is the harmful effect on the brain of minors or teenagers. At this level, the brain is still undergoing growth, alcohol can however affect the brain negatively. It can also cause a hormonal imbalance in adolescents. It may also cause liver failure.
About Drinking In France
All sorts of alcoholic drinks are available in France, champagne for instance was discovered and invented in France. But wine has been widely admired and preferable by many.
France is known to be a country of wine lovers and it is part of the French national identity. This is not because French wines are well known around the world, but because French wines were observed to be healthy and increase effectiveness, even in children.
 In times past, it was safer to drink alcohol until pasteurized milk and clean water were easy to access, and by 1956, water was now portable and it became normal to carry around. But this did not change the fact that wine was still regarded as a healthy drink for everyone.
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Also, wine was being served in high schools in France mostly after meals though in moderation until 1981. We can say that many older people in France today grew up drinking wine moderately. But there are tendencies that moderation might have had some effect on the kids because it’s unlikely for kids to concentrate on schoolwork after taking one or two glasses of wine.
Even with this history, it is still surprising that today France has a legal drinking age. But the reason is the damage it may cause to developing brains. In the 20th century, the legal drinking age was established in France to be age 16.
The Current Legal Drinking Age In France
Binge drinking (excessive consumption of alcohol) has been considered to be the norm for young people, which has been adopted basically through TV, movies, and culture from well-known countries and young people from France have also indulged in binge drinking.
Also, teenagers whose grandparents and parents usually drink alcohol in school started experimenting with binge drinking. However, most countries do not promote binge drinking but it is seen as part of countries like the UK, the US, and even France. Though France ranks first among the European countries in wine consumption it’s strange that they rate the lowest in alcoholism.
Binge drinking was seen as a menace that should be curbed. As a result of this, in 2009 a law was passed establishing that 18years is the current legal drinking age in France. 18 can buy and freely consume alcohol while 16 will consume alcohol under adult supervision but are not allowed to purchase it. Also, there are punishments for adults who serve minors alcohol or even get them drunk.
There are outlines of laws regarding alcohol in France, they are:
- It is unlawful to sell alcohol to underage (under 18years) minors.Â
- It is important for the seller to ask for a means of identification from the customer or proof of age.
- It is also unlawful to offer alcohol freely to minors in any store, drinking establishment, or public place.
- Minors under age 16 are not allowed in drinking establishments alone without the company of a parent or a responsible adult.
- It is unlawful to offer alcohol freely (happy hour) or at a reduced price at a certain period of time without also offering non-alcoholic drinks at the same period of time.
- It is also unlawful for sellers to give drinks to people that are drunk.
- It is unallowed to be drunk in public places.
It is important to note that if you want to buy and consume an alcoholic drink in France, you must be up to age 18 or 16 under the supervision of an adult.
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