Minors, You Are What You Drink!: Arkansas's New Spin on Minors in ...

994 ARKANSAS LAW REVIEW [Vol. 65:977
in order to determine alcohol content in the body. 106 The
statute does, however, provide one exception for students
enrolled in college who must taste wine or beer as a part of
their curriculum. 107
Arkansas’s minor-in-possession statute is most similar
to Missouri’s statute because both explicitly prohibit
possession and do not include a consumption provision. 108
However, unlike Arkansas’s provision, Missouri’s minor-inpossession
law provides guidance as to when an officer may
lawfully test for the presence of alcohol in the minor’s
body. 109 When a minor is visibly intoxicated, consent to
alcohol testing is implied. 110 In determining whether a
minor is visibly intoxicated, the facts and circumstances
observed by the officer must provide the officer with
probable cause. 111
For example, in J.D.L.C., the Missouri Court of
Appeals determined that an officer lacked probable cause
to conclude that a minor was visibly intoxicated when the
minor was not belligerent and did not have blood-shot or
glassy eyes. 112 Therefore, the court concluded that the
officer did not have probable cause to issue a breathalyzer
test to the minor, and the results of that test were
inadmissible. 113 Apparently, Missouri did not intend to give
officers unfettered discretion when testing the alcohol
content in a minor’s body. However, only time will tell as
to how officers in Arkansas will proceed. Act 1152 simply
does not provide any information or guidance as to how an
officer may obtain evidence of alcohol content in the body
of a minor. In fact, there is nothing in the statute that
suggests whether testing is required for proof of alcohol
106. MO. ANN. STAT. § 311.325.
107. MO. ANN. STAT. § 311.325. However, those students are not allowed to
consume the alcohol, and the instructor must maintain possession and control of the
substance at all times. MO. ANN. STAT. § 311.325.
108. Compare ARK. CODE ANN. § 3-3-203(a) (Supp. 2011), with MO. ANN.
STAT. § 311.325.
109. MO. ANN. STAT. § 311.325.
110. MO. ANN. STAT. § 311.325.
111. State v. J.D.L.C., 293 S.W.3d 85, 89 (Mo. Ct. App. 2009).
112. Id.
113. Id.