NOTE: Mexpro auto insurance and MexVisit travel assistance do NOT cover losses due to insured drinking and driving or under the influence of® illegal substances. That`s why this article is about the legal drinking age in Mexico and the penalty you might encounter. Talk to your children in advance. You can tell them how much alcohol they can drink to keep out of trouble. Some states in Mexico have restrictions on buying alcohol on certain days and at certain times of the week. No, at the age of 16, you are not allowed to drink legally in Mexico. The minimum drinking age in all states is 18 and underage drinking is not allowed. Youth (or those who look young) should be asked to present photo identification to verify their proof of age – usually a driver`s license or passport. This requirement applies to the purchase of alcohol in shops, restaurants and bars (in Mexico, beer, wine and spirits are ubiquitous, even available in supermarkets).
Between March 2009 and July 2010, interviews were conducted with 1,307 self-identified Mexican Americans in the border counties of California (Imperial County: N = 365), Arizona (Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yuma County: N = 173), New Mexico (Dona Ana County: N = 65) and Texas (Cameron, El Paso, Hidalgo and Webb County: N = 704). About 55% of border surveys were conducted in Spanish. The border survey used a multi-level cluster sampling method. The weighted response rate was 67%. Unless otherwise noted, the sample was limited to current drinkers, defined as all individuals who reported having had at least one glass of an alcoholic beverage (wine, beer, spirits) in the 12 months preceding the survey (N = 691). In Mali and the Central African Republic, the legal drinking age is 15. In Mexico, it is legal for vehicle occupants to consume alcohol. However, the passenger must be of legal drinking age. Problems with tainted alcohol have increased in recent years as unscrupulous companies try to make quick profits by cutting corners and using dangerous chemicals in their alcoholic beverages. Police and military patrols are common in Mexico, especially in tourist areas, so it`s best to avoid problems related to alcohol abuse by not drinking much in public. The last thing you want is a prison sentence in a foreign country. Respondents who said they crossed the border into Mexico were first asked, “How many days did you drink at least one alcoholic beverage?” The average weekly number of drinks consumed in Mexico was estimated from the question “At those times you were drinking in Mexico, how many drinks did you drink on average?” The frequency of binge drinking was estimated from the question: “On these occasions, when you drank in Mexico in the past 12 months, how many times did you drink five (men) / four (women) or more alcoholic beverages on one occasion, that is, within two hours?” This study has many strengths.
He analyzed data collected from a representative sample of Mexican Americans living in the four U.S. states bordering Mexico. The sample was representative of the most densely populated areas of the border, where the majority of the border population lives, but it is important to note that much of the geographic area at the border is a sparsely populated desert. Comprehensive data on alcohol consumption were collected through face-to-face interviews, and the study used bilingual interviewers, including Spanish-speaking interviewers. The study also has important limitations. Although our regression analysis predicted the probability that drinkers in Mexico would consume alcohol, this variable may be related to the probability of travelling to Mexico. The data were cross-sectional, limiting our ability to interpret observed relationships as causal relationships. In addition, the border sample had a response rate of 67%, mainly due to refusals to be interviewed, which may be related to the increased fear of drug-related violence at the border. If you drink at resorts or hotels as a whole in Mexico, you should wear a colorful bracelet. There are different colors for people 18 or older, people who are not yet 18 years old, and people who have recently married on their honeymoon.
This system helps the hotel quickly determine if a person is over 18 and can drink alcohol. But there are other hotels that take care of offensive guests, so parents should keep a close eye on their children when drinking alcohol in these hotels. Mexico has an endless amount of local alcoholic beverages that you should try when visiting the country. Because when will you have the opportunity to taste these drinks, except during your holidays in Mexico? Bivariate relationships between different characteristics of alcohol consumption in Mexico by sex are presented in Table 3. About half of the men and one-quarter of the women in the sample reported travelling to Mexico in the 12 months prior to the survey interview. These proportions rose to almost two-thirds of men and just over half of women, if only current drinkers were considered. However, only about one-third of these current drinkers drank alcohol in Mexico while there, regardless of gender. The average number of beverages consumed in Mexico was relatively high for both sexes, as was the proportion of drinkers who reported excessive drinking in Mexico.
Men and women who reported drinking alcohol in Mexico did so primarily with family or friends, and the place of alcohol consumption was generally a private environment (home, home of a friend or relative, party, wedding), although about a quarter of men and more than a third of women reported drinking in public places such as bars. Taverns, clubs, hotels and restaurants. For example, border city police departments crack down on tourists who violate the following drinking rules: Mexico`s blood alcohol limit can vary from state to state. Most Mexican states have a legal blood alcohol limit of 0.08, but in some states such as Chihuahua, Estado de Mexico (including Mexico City), Jalisco, and Veracruz, it is lower. Maybe you`re in Mexico City for a vacation trip with your friends or a school holiday getaway. And all the fun moments couldn`t be better with a drink or two. But wait! Before planning to celebrate the occasion with a bottle of tequila, it`s best to know the legal drinking age in Mexico. The last thing you want is to end up breaking the law and paying the consequences.
So, before crossing the border, find out about the legal drinking age in Mexico to reassure yourself. Symptoms of spoiled alcohol consumption include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. If you notice any of these symptoms after drinking or suspect that your drink is spoiled, seek medical attention immediately. Another reminder: regardless of your age, it`s illegal to drive drunk in Mexico. (While some states have stricter rules, the national limit for blood alcohol levels in Mexico is 0.8.) For example, on election days, a dry law may be passed prohibiting the sale of alcohol for 24 to 48 hours during the election. Another restriction that applies in some states of Mexico is that the sale of alcohol is prohibited on election days. Previous work based on the dataset analyzed here confirmed that the border is a place where people drink more, especially among young American adults of Mexican descent. For example, among men aged 18 to 29, the rate of binge drinking at least once a year was 48% among those at the border, compared with 36% among a comparative sample of Mexican Americans living outside the border, mainly in Houston, Texas, and Los Angeles, California. For women in the same age group, the percentages of cross-border and extra-cross-border binge drinking were 26% and 14% respectively. Data on alcohol-related health and social problems, discussed in the introduction, point in the same direction (Vaeth et al., 2012). However, these Mexican laws generally do not apply to bars and restaurants in major tourist areas. You can still buy alcohol here and it`s only restricted in grocery stores, convenience stores, and liquor stores.
But what if you or a member of your party is under the legal drinking age and you`ve booked a resort in Cancun? But which country has the youngest legal drinking age? The epidemiological picture that can be drawn from studies of alcohol consumption at the border is complex, with variations in levels of alcohol consumption and prevalence of problems dependent on socio-demographic factors. First, some studies suggest that binge drinking and related problems are more common along the border (e.g., Caetano, Ramisetty-Mikler, Wallisch, McGrath, & Spence, 2008; Caetano, Vaeth, Mills and Rodriguez, in press; Harrison and Kennedy, 1996; Holck, Warren, Smith, & Rochat, 1984; Wallisch, 1998; Wallisch and Spence, 2006) than in non-cross-border populations. For example, the rate of binge drinking over 12 months once a month or more among Hispanic men at the border was 36%, compared with 6-7% among Hispanics outside the border (Caetano et al., 2008; Grant et al., 2004). Alcohol dependence (12-month rate) was also more common among Hispanic men at the border (14.5%) than among Hispanic men nationally (5.9%).
