# A Prohibition query **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2014, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prohibition-query/690321 "2014-06-08T09:35:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prohibition-query/690321/21 "2014-06-16T13:40:00Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > How come Puerto Rico gets to have an 18 drinking age? > [@Shagnasty](#): > > An 18 year old drinking age isn’t a specific federal law because the feds do not have the right to set a national drinking age. Instead, they resorted to extortion to get it done. It is only based on federal highway funding which may not apply to Puerto Rico as much as the states. Any state can set an 18 year old drinking age today if they are willing to forgo federal highway funds. Louisiana did it all the way up through the late 1990’s. Even then, it didn’t have to forgo any highway funds because the law was carefully crafted around it (it was perfectly legal to _sell_ to 18 - 20 years olds but technically illegal for them to buy but there was also no penalty for buying either). It was hardly “extortion”. It was 5-10% of each state’s federal highway funding. Indeed, the reason SCOTUS said it was okay was because the amount at issue wasn’t “[coercive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_v._Dole)”. Puerto Rico is not entitled to receive funding “apportioned to states” because it’s not a state. The Federal Aid Highway Act expressly provided that highway funds could only be “apportioned to states”. Territorial highway funding comes from a different program. The justification for pressuring states to adopt the 21+ drinking age doesn’t apply to Puerto Rico, because you can’t drive anywhere from there.\* \*The rationale for the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was that kids would drive to states with lower drinking ages, get loaded, and then drive home drunk. Invariably, they killed lots of border-area residents in the process. The same rationale applies to Hawaii, but it does get interstate highway funds even though it has no “interstate” highways. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prohibition-query/690321/22 "2014-06-17T01:32:15Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > …Yes, the Volstead Act exempted sacramental wine. Needless to say, this exemption was widely abused. So was the exemption for “medicinal purposes” (much like “medical marijuana” is today in CA). > [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > …You could not produce alcohol in your own home for recreational consumption. To manufacture “as authorized in this Act” you could be manufacturing only for the narrowly drawn sacramental and medicinal exemptions. IIRC you could be stuff like hopes and grape produce with explicit step by step instructions warning you what _not_ to do lest you end up with a forbidden intoxicating liquor. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > …The same rationale applies to Hawaii, but it does get interstate highway funds even though it has no “interstate” highways. Fun fact all 3 of Hawaii’s interstate highways on Oahu. IIRC they all connect military bases. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prohibition-query/690321/23 "2014-06-17T02:33:11Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > … Fun fact all 3 of Hawaii’s interstate highways on Oahu. IIRC they all connect military bases. Not entirely. They run by or near many of them but it’s a small island with limited areas for roads and military bases. The H1 doesn’t connect at either end to a base. The H3 probably had the connection to MCBH as one of its justifications. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prohibition-query/690321/24 "2014-06-17T09:04:33Z")
Alcohol had replaced the popular drinking of 'awa. This occurred within the memories of the native population when Prohibition was enacted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-prohibition-query/690321.md?page=1)