TheMan13
Well-Known Member
10 Of The Strangest Drug Laws In America
When it comes to drug laws, like many things in life, you’ve got the good, the bad…and the just plain weird. And the US boasts plenty of examples of all three.
Marijuana—safer than alcohol but forbidden long after the US ended alcohol prohibition in 1933—is now legally regulated for adult use in Colorado, Washington State, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, DC. And some of the tax dollars generated from sales are being used to fund drug education programs. What’s not to like?
On the other hand, pot remains illegal in most US states—27 still forbid it even for medical purposes—and many other drugs are also banned, on pain of unbelievably harsh prison sentences. The world’s highest incarceration rate is something the Land of the Free should be thoroughly ashamed of.
Now to the weird. The laws on this list may earn neither your admiration nor your ire. But they should prompt some profound questions along the lines of, WTF? Like, who would ever want to try doing that? So why would anyone even need to make a law prohibiting it?
Good questions all. Unfortunately, the answers tend to be buried in dusty legal tomes on distant library shelves. All we can do is alert you to the fact that these laws actually exist.
1. NEW HAMPSHIRE: It is illegal to inhale bus fumes with the intent of inducing euphoria.
REUTERS/Mike StoneA school bus drops of children in Dallas, Texas.
“Live free or die” may be the New Hampshire state motto, but apparently people there aren’t free to do both of those things at once. Once federal law gets around to nationwide marijuana legalization, a massive popular uprising demanding the right to euphoria via bus-fume inhalation will no doubt get under way. Until then, New Hampshirites will have to content themselves with inhaling bus fumes in order to protect the environment, say, or impress their friends.
2. WASHINGTON DC: It is illegal to operate a surfboard while on a hallucinogen.
You could argue that there’s nothing actually wrong with this law: In the unlikely event that, while tripping, you are both capable and desirous of surfing, yet strongly averse to breaking another law beyond the one you’ve probably already broken in order to ingest your chosen hallucinogen, it could even protect you from a total body-and-soul wipeout. Still, it’s a little specific, isn’t it?
3. PENNSYLVANIA: No man may purchase alcohol without written permission from his wife.
The Amish aren’t the only people in Pennsylvania who operate under certain, uh, restrictions.
In Newtown, every man is required to have written consent from his wife in order to purchase alcohol.
That’s quite a hangover from the Temperance era. Especially if you don’t have a wife.
Wikimedia Commons/David ShankboneLiquor store.
When it comes to drug laws, like many things in life, you’ve got the good, the bad…and the just plain weird. And the US boasts plenty of examples of all three.
Marijuana—safer than alcohol but forbidden long after the US ended alcohol prohibition in 1933—is now legally regulated for adult use in Colorado, Washington State, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, DC. And some of the tax dollars generated from sales are being used to fund drug education programs. What’s not to like?
On the other hand, pot remains illegal in most US states—27 still forbid it even for medical purposes—and many other drugs are also banned, on pain of unbelievably harsh prison sentences. The world’s highest incarceration rate is something the Land of the Free should be thoroughly ashamed of.
Now to the weird. The laws on this list may earn neither your admiration nor your ire. But they should prompt some profound questions along the lines of, WTF? Like, who would ever want to try doing that? So why would anyone even need to make a law prohibiting it?
Good questions all. Unfortunately, the answers tend to be buried in dusty legal tomes on distant library shelves. All we can do is alert you to the fact that these laws actually exist.
1. NEW HAMPSHIRE: It is illegal to inhale bus fumes with the intent of inducing euphoria.
“Live free or die” may be the New Hampshire state motto, but apparently people there aren’t free to do both of those things at once. Once federal law gets around to nationwide marijuana legalization, a massive popular uprising demanding the right to euphoria via bus-fume inhalation will no doubt get under way. Until then, New Hampshirites will have to content themselves with inhaling bus fumes in order to protect the environment, say, or impress their friends.
2. WASHINGTON DC: It is illegal to operate a surfboard while on a hallucinogen.
You could argue that there’s nothing actually wrong with this law: In the unlikely event that, while tripping, you are both capable and desirous of surfing, yet strongly averse to breaking another law beyond the one you’ve probably already broken in order to ingest your chosen hallucinogen, it could even protect you from a total body-and-soul wipeout. Still, it’s a little specific, isn’t it?
3. PENNSYLVANIA: No man may purchase alcohol without written permission from his wife.
The Amish aren’t the only people in Pennsylvania who operate under certain, uh, restrictions.
In Newtown, every man is required to have written consent from his wife in order to purchase alcohol.
That’s quite a hangover from the Temperance era. Especially if you don’t have a wife.
