32
votes
Why does Thailand ban the sale of alcohol between 2 and 5 p.m.?
From a brief google search, it seems that alcohol is banned from 2-5 in an effort to prevent school children from buying liquor. I assume this is a question of supervision, where children are let out ...
- 73.4k
30
votes
Accepted
Why is alcohol restricted to 21 in the US, while other potentially harmful things are allowed at 18?
The age of majority — in most US states, and for most activities that were considered 'adult' — was set at 21 up until the 1970s. I'm not sure there was a specific reason for that aside from ...
- 73.4k
24
votes
Accepted
Why are drinking laws so strict in the USA?
The "frame challenge" aspect of this answer is to note that, while the USA is stricter than many European countries, it is less strict than many other countries. Many majority Muslim countries ban ...
- 124k
24
votes
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
Prohibition did not come about because people were seeking to ban anything and decided to select alcohol. Rather, prohibition was the culmination of a temperance movement that had developed in the US ...
- 18.4k
21
votes
Why does Thailand ban the sale of alcohol between 2 and 5 p.m.?
To prevent all-day drinking.
Similar laws existed in other countries, in particular the UK. They were introduced in 1914 as part of the war effort. Afternoon sales were banned from 3pm to 6:30. ...
- 124k
19
votes
Accepted
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
Alcohol was banned by Congress through Amendment 18 in 1917 because of Protestant protest groups and grassroot campaigns from several Woman's Rights Movement organizations. The Wikipedia article sums ...
- 688
11
votes
Why are drinking laws so strict in the USA?
The higher minimum legal age for alcohol use in the United States is tied directly into the low minimum driving ages. The U.S. has the largest population of the Western World, and is fairly rural ...
- 16.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Why is the British Chancellor allowed to drink alcohol in the House of Commons chamber?
The Chancellor is allowed to do this as a matter of tradition, as the OP's link says. There's also a practical reason: the Budget speech is often long and complex, and a boost to their morale during ...
- 10.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Why is the drinking age usually higher than the age of consent & driving age?
If you look at the tables (rather than the map) in the Legal drinking age Wikipedia article, you will notice that many countries actually have restrictions on purchasing alcohol or serving it to under-...
- 31.4k
5
votes
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
Cocaine and heroin became illegal in 1915. LSD and XTC did not exist, at least not as something used recreationally.
The main reason that they chose alcohol over other drugs was how widespread its ...
- 90.1k
4
votes
Accepted
How many US states still prohibit transportation of alcohol across state lines without a license, even for personal use?
The main motivation that states have for making importing of liquor from out of state illegal, both for commercial re-sellers and for individual consumers, is protectionism. Consumers buying and ...
- 6,964
3
votes
Why is the drinking age usually higher than the age of consent & driving age?
I challenge the premise of the question. If we go by a more detailed list, we find legal drinking age varies, and while it's often 18, lower ages aren't exactly rare.
We get the same result if we ...
- 13.5k
2
votes
Why is the drinking age usually higher than the age of consent & driving age?
Restrictions like this are predicated on cultural beliefs about competence to make decisions. Age of consent is often set fairly low because historically 14-16 was a common age for people to marry and ...
- 73.4k
2
votes
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
So there are two parts to the answer.
First, why ban anything?
At the time, women were just starting to see the possibilities of voting. At the time men created the laws, they approve them, they ...
- 1,906
2
votes
Why did the US prohibit alcohol (instead of some other substance) during Prohibition
To build on a summary in Phoog's answer:
Alcohol was considered the root cause of spousal abuse (the driving reason behing Women's temperance league).
Almost everyone drank alcohol, for historical ...
- 93k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible