(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter or Ohio R.C. Chapter 4301, no person shall sell beer or intoxicating liquor to an underage person, or shall buy beer or intoxicating liquor for an underage person, or shall furnish it to, an underage person, unless given by a physician in the regular line of his practice or given for established religious purposes, or unless the underage person is supervised by a parent, spouse who is not an underage person or legal guardian.
In proceedings before the Liquor Control Commission, no permit holder, or no employee or agent of a permit holder, charged with a violation of this subsection shall be charged, for the same offense, with a violation of Ohio R.C. 4301.22(A)(1).
(b) No person who is the owner or occupant of any public or private place shall knowingly allow any underage person to remain in or on the place while possessing or consuming beer or intoxicating liquor, unless the intoxicating liquor or beer is given to the person possessing or consuming it by that person's parent, spouse who is not an underage person or legal guardian and the parent, spouse who is not an underage person or legal guardian is present at the time of the person's possession or consumption of the beer or intoxicating liquor.
An owner of a public or private place is not liable for acts or omissions in violation of this subsection that are committed by a lessee of that place, unless the owner authorizes or acquiesces in the lessee's acts or omissions.
(c) No person shall engage or use accommodations at a hotel, inn, cabin, campground or restaurant when he knows or has reason to know either of the following:
(1) That beer or intoxicating liquor will be consumed by an underage person on the premises of the accommodations that the person engages or uses, unless the person engaging or using the accommodations is the spouse of the underage person and is not an underage person, or is the parent or legal guardian of all of the underage persons, who consume beer or intoxicating liquor on the premises and that person is on the premises at all times when beer or intoxicating liquor is being consumed by an underage person;
(2) That a drug of abuse will be consumed on the premises of the accommodations by any person, except a person who obtained the drug of abuse pursuant to a prescription issued by a practitioner and has the drug of abuse in the original container in which it was dispensed to the person.
(d) (1) No person is required to permit the engagement of accommodations at any hotel, inn, cabin or campground by an underage person or for an underage person, if the person engaging the accommodations knows or has reason to know that the underage person is intoxicated, or that the underage person possesses any beer or intoxicating liquor and is not supervised by a parent, spouse who is not an underage person or legal guardian who is or will be present at all times when the beer or intoxicating liquor is being consumed by the underage person.
(2) No underage person shall knowingly engage or attempt to engage accommodations at any hotel, inn, cabin or campground by presenting identification that falsely indicates that the underage person is twenty-one years of age or older for the purpose of violating this section.
(e) No underage person shall knowingly order, pay for, share the cost of, attempt to purchase, possess, or consume any beer or intoxicating liquor, in any public or private place. No underage person shall knowingly be under the influence of any beer or intoxicating liquor in any public place. The prohibitions set forth in this subsection (e) hereof against an underage person knowingly possessing, consuming, or being under the influence of any beer or intoxicating liquor shall not apply if the underage person is supervised by a parent, spouse who is not an underage person, or legal guardian, or the beer or intoxicating liquor is given by a physician in the regular line of the physician’s practice or given for established religious purposes.
(f) No parent, spouse who is not an underage person or legal guardian of a minor shall knowingly permit the minor to violate this section or Section 529.021(a) to (c).
(g) The operator of any hotel, inn, cabin or campground shall make the provisions of this section available in writing to any person engaging or using accommodations at the hotel, inn, cabin or campground.
(h) As used in this section:
(1) "Drug of abuse" has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 3719.011.
(2) "Hotel" has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 3731.01.
(3) “Licensed health professional authorized to prescribe drugs” and “prescription” have the same meanings as in Ohio R.C. 4729.01.
(4) “Minor” means a person under the age of eighteen years.
(5) "Underage person" means a person under the age of twenty-one years.
(ORC 4301.69)
(i) (1) Whoever violates subsection (a) hereof is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), and, in addition to the fine, may be imprisoned for a definite term of not more than six months. (ORC 4301.99(I))
(2) Whoever violates subsections (b), (c), (d) or (f) hereof is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree. (ORC 4301.99(C))
(3) Whoever violates subsection (e) hereof is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree. (ORC 4301.99(D); Ord. 2024-03. Passed 4-11-24.)