How much can a six-pack cost?

Underage drinking

• The drinking age in North Carolina is 21.
• If you're under 21, possession, purchase or attempted purchase of liquor (fortified wine, spirits, mixed drinks) is illegal. The penalties include fines and court costs (usually totalling $70), and possible imprisonment.
• If you're under 19, possession, purchase or attempted purchase of beer or wine carries penalties of fines and court costs (usually totalling $70), and possible imprisonment.
• If you're 19 or 20 possession, purchase or attempted purchase of beer or wine carries a fine of $10 to $25.
• If you help an underage person buy alcohol, or buy it for them, you face a fine, court costs, possible imprisionment, and lose your drivers license for a year. If you're over 21 and do this, you can be fined up to $2,000 and be jailed for up to two years.
• If you use a fake or borrowed ID to buy alcohol, or lend your ID to someone, you risk having your own driver's license suspended.

• Driving with any amount of alcohol in the body is illegal for anyone under 21, and results in a one-year license suspension. People 18-20 may receive an alternative sanction of limited driving privileges.
• Driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .08%--Driving While Impaired--carries a range of sentences and fines, from 24 hours to two years in prision and between $100 and $2000 in fines. Your license can be suspended for at least a year, or revoked permanently. If someone dies as a result of your drunk driving, you can go to jail for much longer.
  Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives calls for all 50 States to lower legal blood alcohol concentration tolerance levels to 0.04% for motor vehicle drivers older than 20 with "zero tolerance" for younger drivers. This is because noticeable impairment of driving ability starts around that level.
  
• It is illegal to have an open container of alcohol in a vehicle's passenger area if the driver has been drinking at all. Second conviction carries a six-month license revocation. Third conviction loses your license for a year.
• A person can be charged with driving while impaired with blood alcohol concentrations under 0.08% if police observe erratic driving.

• Possession of illegal drugs can send you to jail for up to five years or cost you fines of up to $2000.
• Selling illegal drugs to others carries a jail term of up to ten years.

• If you become disruptive in public (violent, insulting, using profanity, urinating) as a result of being drunk, you can be fined up to $50 dollars and spend up to a month in jail.

• In Chapel Hill NC, possession or consumption of alcohol is not allowed on public property. The fine is up to $50.

• There's a growing trend to hold people who serve alcohol--at bars and restaurants or at private events--responsible for injuries caused by the drunk driving of people they give drinks to. If you give people alcohol at a party you host and let them drive home, you can be sued or even face criminal charges for damage or injuries they cause.