In most states, some underage drinking is allowed

It’s one of the seemingly ironclad rules of adolescence: In the U.S., you can’t drink legally until you’re 21. Of course, underage consumption laws are flouted regularly. More than half of 20-year-olds have tried alcohol, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

But as it turns out, not all of that underage drinking is, strictly speaking, illegal: At least 37 states have an exception in their drinking laws that allow underage people to drink at home and within the company of family members.

http://www.startribune.com/in-most-states-some-underage-drinking-is-allowed/380007201/