(LATIMES) — Underage drinkers who participated in a study to see if they could buy alcoholic beverages online were successful in 45% of attempts.
The study, conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, recruited eight people, ages 18 to 20, to try to purchase wine, beer and other beverages online, according to Bloomberg News.
To keep participants on the right side of the law in case they got caught, each got a letter of immunity from the local district attorney.
The participants were instructed, for the purposes of the study, to lie about their age when filling out order forms. But if asked for age verification by a delivery person, they were to fess up and say they were not yet 21.