Lowering liquor drinking age to 18... what do you think? Karnataka excise department proposes to bring down legal age to purchase alcohol from 21

The amendment proposed will allow all teens aged above 18 to purchase liquor giving the young tipplers a three-year advantage than their elder peers in 'wine tasting'. This will take the legal age revision to the pre-2015 era.

Bengaluru:The state government has issued a draft notification relaxing the age restriction for buying liquor by three years, and has sought opinions or suggestions or objections in this regard from its denizens. The present legal age for sale of liquor is 21 and it will become 18, if the notification is implemented.

The present excise law prohibits sale of alcohol to persons under the age of 21. The recent notification was the draft of the Karnataka Excise Rules 2023, which will pave way for the age reduction. Objections, if any, will have to be filed within 30 days from the notification, the excise department said.

It is pertinent to note that the legal age to purchase alcoholic beverages were kept at 18 until 2015. It was raised to 21 by way of amending the Karnataka Excise License (General Clause) Rules 1967. This effectively prevented the upscale pubs and bars from selling liquor to persons under 21.

Sources said that the government will go ahead with this as a policy decision even as people are likely to object to the government's amendment to relax the drinking age. Some are in favor of the age relaxation as it would have a positive impact on the pub culture for many that want to celebrate their 18th birthday in the pubs of the IT capital.

Do you know? Use of alcohol is the 5th leading risk factor for premature deaths and disabilities in the world. Alcohol use is a component cause of more than 200 disease and injury conditions in individuals, most notably alcohol dependence, liver cirrhosis, cancers and injuries.