Six Loopholes People Used for Drinking When and Where It's Illegal

When people really want to do something, they will find a way around the law. America found that out in a spectacular way during Prohibition in the 1920s, so much that we rescinded the 18th Amendment by passing the 21st Amendment. Alcohol consumption is still regulated, more so in some places than others, but there are plenty of legal loopholes. If you restrict liquor sales to restaurants, suddenly all bars become restaurants. If you can only make wine at home for personal consumption, there will be plenty of folks willing to sell you the instructions, the tools, and the "materials" used to make it. When the only way you can get booze is by prescription, doctors will write them freely for friends and important people. You get the idea. Read about six of these clever loopholes people have exploited in their quest to wet their whistles at Cracked.

(Image credit: Przemek Pietrak)


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Sweden had a similar loophole to the inedible sandwich, from back in the days when men were only allowed a ration of 3L of hard liquor per month (and unmarried women 1L). (Sweden has change a lot since then.)

Quoting "On Swedish Ways" from the 1964: "In restaurants a customer was allowed one glass of schnapps—but only in combination with food. As the waiter brought in the dish, the guest would smile slyly and ask: “Do I have to eat it?” More jokes have been told about the “rubber sandwich” that was carried in and then back to the kitchen, awaiting the next customer’s glassy stare."

That book was written so the Minnesotan descendants of Swedish immigrants would have a better idea of the home country. Remember, this is still a time when you could still hear Swedish spoken in Minnesota, by locals who learned it as their mother tongue. The sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", which takes place in Minneapolis, even had the character Phyllis Lindstrom speak Swedish, relaying what her husband, Lars, had said.
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