I was grading papers today and found out that Mississippi has the most bizarre set of alcohol laws of any state. Namely, you’re allowed to drive while drinking, as long as you’re not drunk. At the same time, most counties prohibit sales of alcohol on Sundays and there are many dry counties, where the possession of any alcohol is illegal.

When I was reading about Mississippi laws in Wikipedia, I caught a glimpse of Missouri’s laws, which are incredibly permissive: there are no open container laws, no public intoxication laws (I wonder how people are liking that), parents are allowed to give alcohol to their children, and cities and counties are explicitly “PROHIBITED from banning off-premises alcohol sales.”

A quick glance through the list revealed other creative legislation: “no sales of singles” in DC, “no sales of cold beer in grocery stores or gas stations” in Indiana, and Massachusetts ruled that “no individual, partnership, or corporation may have more than three off-premises licences in the state, nor more than two in any city, nor more than one in any town”. I’m guessing that the most bizarre alcohol regulations are not even on Wikipedia for space reasons.

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