Going out drinking.

I've never been properly drunk

I am 17 and I drink. Not excessively. Once every couple of days I'll have maybe a bottle of lager, normally either Stella or Carlsberg, at home, usually with my evening meal or when I'm watching a game of football. Every once in a while I'll be invited to a party where I'll drink a little more.

I've never been properly drunk, although seeing what others look like and behave like when drunk has put me off getting wasted. I'll get tipsy and I'm fine with that. I also at parties sometimes get this guilty feeling of underage drinking. I'll get p!553d when I'm 18, that's what I tell myself tbh.

Basically, I have these friends who mainly girls who keep asking me if I'll go out drinking with them. a) I obviously have no proof of age as I'm underage and b) I doubt I look 18. Also, "going out" drinking worries me in that if something feasibly went a bit wrong I'd have to make my way home etc at night etc. I know this sounds stupid but is it a worry based in nothing? I'm not that big a fan of clubs etc, which is where they mainly go. They keep going on at me like "you hate going out drinking don't you" and even though i have no personal problem with alcohol, i have a problem with underage drinking, getting into whichever club it is, buying the drinks, and not getting too wasted. also these girls get p!55ed well easily.

Should I just ignore them and wait until I'm 18 so i have nowt to worry about? What would the consequence be if i was caught underage drinking?

This is a genuine issue for me, so please answer whole heartedly with a degree of sensitivity.

PS its not exactly embarassing so no need for anon

Therein lies the problem. It all seems rather pointless and very expensive until you've been wasted at least once.

In exact the same way that people go to prison for having sex with people they meet in 18+ clubs but who turn out to actually be underaged.

I think that they would have a pretty good case in court if the person had told them they were legal age (and lied). You don't exactly ask to look at a persons ID before you sleep with them.

Unfortunatly it seems your legal viewpoints arnt shared by the actual law. Even if someone lies about their age, its still illegal and people WILL go to jail:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/6750317.stm

Id also recommend reading the thread at:

http://www.unicef.org/voy/discussions/showthread.php?t=3110

Which contains alot of people posting about their personal experiences or those of close friend/relatives whom have been charged and jailed for having underaged sex despite the underaged person lying about their age (in one case she even had a fake id saying she was 18).