Kava Drinking Age in Va: 18+ vs. 21+

[KavaclubRVA]

Hello,
My name is Bram and I work at KavaClub in Richmond, Va. I'm a luddite, newbie...so please advise if I should be posting this under a different thread. I introduced myself a couple months ago and wanted to follow up with some new developments and questions.

We are still not open and have been working with lawyers, researchers, advocates, media, experts, growers, state and federal regulators and kava lovers to be the first successful kava bar in Virginia. One opened previously but was shuttered by our state's dept. of health very quickly. We are trying to get our ducks in a row to avoid that outcome.

This forum and the generous community supporting it has been instrumental in helping us navigate some choppy waters over this past year.

Anyways, I'm looking for any kind of credible stories, scholarly articles, legislation or testimonials that speak to the benefits and precedents of having an 18+ vs. 21+ kava drinking age law.

I'm sure there are many opinions on all sides of this and I'm approaching with an open mind. That being said, safely sourced and prepared kava seems like an excellent alcohol alternative for college freshman who often have few other safe alternatives to the popular binge drinking culture that dominates so many American campuses.

Kavaclub is located less than a mile from Virginia Commonwealth University (where I studied social work) and it seems like many kava bars are also positioned near college campuses. I've been trying to get in touch with someone at campus life who may share our vision for a less alcohol focused student experience. We would love to partner with the university and work together to educate students about safely consuming kava.

Despite spending four years and a lot of $ at VCU, I've had very little luck connecting with the right folks around this issue. If anyone has had similar challenges or success in this area, I'd be grateful to hear what did and didn't work on your end.

Obviously, this is an especially relevant time for this conversation because Gen Z seems to be consuming less alcohol than older generations.

Anyways, I'm hoping to learn more about this issue and how other kava bar owners have navigated it.

As always, thanks for reading....and please dont hesitate to ask if anyone here at Kavaclub can help out with anything other folks are working on in this space.

Peace,

Bram

 

[BulaPonoKava]

”18+ vs. 21+ kava drinking age law.”
Are you specifically asking about a Law in the legal sense to be enforced by govt, or guidlines related to what age range should your establishment choose to adopt? I think one problem with 21 might be underage individuals trying to pass and then you might have similar problems as alcohol dispensing establishments with enforcement and liability. Also, the atmosphere and how your establishment promotes its self might play an important role. For example, if representing more from a herbal tea/coffe house vs a nonalcoholic alternative vs association with another herb that starts w “k” vs etc - might very well influence who arrives and the resulting patrons behavior / outcome.

 

[kavakarma]

I think 18 is better than 21 for kava. An age requirement of 21 would be discouraging, especially considering a main intention of drinking kava is to establish a social drink routine or anxiety/pain relief routine which does not revolve around alcohol (I believe). It's also got a high safety profile. I like the old addage, "If you can serve your country in the military, you can drink the beverages adults drink" , although I'm interested to learn more on this topic as well.

 

[Pzk]

Basically due to the brain is growing until the age of 28 +/- and then evolved, I would try to avoid to take anything that changes the brain chemistry up to this age. But I know it is so unrealistic, because young people want to try things anyway and you can't forbid it to anyone. And better kava than they drink alcohol.

I would vote for a ban of alcohol and replace it with kava ;-)

Weed f.e. if I'd had children, I would really raise them that way to keep away from weed as long as possible.

Honestly anyway I would go for 21.

I don't know about others, but I know I was stupid as it gets being 18...

I would vote for: "Come with your parents, and you can have it even being 16 years old"

 

[BourbonMac]

I thought it's been established for awhile that 25 is when your brain is fully developed? Most of it is developed by 20 I think.

I could I think notice a change in myself that year. Weed had been making me paranoid for years for instance but by and after 25 it just doesn't happen anymore. With alcohol I can't really say I notice a difference in my cognitive abilities in the 4 years I've been sober compared to when I'd drink regularly, but everyone's different. I sure never feel like crap which is nice, and I get sick rarely despite having anemia. December 2021 was the last time I was sick

Regardless I think 18 is fine. Lots of 18-year-olds get into drinking in general between senior year of high school or early college until they're 21. A 2009 study showed 75% of underage college students were drinking. And from what I can tell kava could never mess you up as badly as alcohol in general and I've drank insane amounts of both, they aren't really comparable besides lowered inhibition. An 18 year old might even like it more than alcohol which could be beneficial if they maybe had a predisposition to alcoholism.

I guess I controversially think 18 should be fine to drink alcohol too. I know it's 19 in Canada and had been 18 in the US for awhile. I started a month before I was 18 on 11/11/11 (4 years sober today though just cause got bored with alcohol). Alcohol is a lot different if a feeling when you're 17-18, its a magic that you only really get during those years. By 19 I was able to feel hangovers, but teens in general can get away with absolutely zero hangover and just feeling more euphoric. I only highlight 17 and 18 because I'd never gotten a hangover either age even though I only drank 2 or 3 times before my birthday a month later

This kind of euphoria I only get exclusively from kava anymore, though. This was the experience my friends and I had senior year of high school, alcohol just didn't make us feel crappy, hangovers weren't a thing. You could black out and instead of waking up on a bathroom floor wake up like you didn't even drink I think once you get into your 20s suddenly it just doesn't seem like the same stuff anymore and a bit of brain development is probably why? I can only guess, and I wonder if anyone else felt this way about it, that it was a lot more euphoric and silly when you were 17 trying it or something.

Just thinking about a mild hangover makes me not regret quitting alcohol. The only kava hangover I've ever had is feeling tired or thirsty if I had a crapton.