> I was wondering what the law really says about minors and alcohol consumption. I mean, it's pretty clear that anyone under 21 can't drink alcohol. But what about food with alcohol in it? Like rum cake, or meats cooked in wine? Does the law still apply, or is waived since the alcohol content is too low to really cause any sort of impairment?

It's legal for someone under 21 to drink alcohol, but only in beverages/food with very small quantities. For instance, you could buy non-alcoholic beer, even though it has from around 0.1 to 0.73 percent alcohol. You would have to drink from 5 to 35 beers to get the same alcohol consumption as you would off one normal beer. By the time you finished 5 to 35 beers, your liver would likely have removed most of the alcohol.

In contrast, in private residence you can drink whatever your parents give you. The only consequence is that if you drink to the point of hospitalization, or leave the house and get into an accident, you're parents can be charged with neglect or something along those lines.

> Also, as a side note, what does the law say about foods with illegal drugs in them? I assume those foods would also be illegal, but I wonder if the penalties for baking or eating ganja brownies would be as steep as the penalties for smoking or dealing marijuana in its more natural form.

Certainly illegal. In fact, some states include the weight of the container when calculating the amount of drug you were carrying. The brownie is considered a container and hence you'd be charged with hefty crime.

> -useless"Getting little kids drunk and stoned is cruel and should be illegal"ness

Eug''ene