Stupid laws you have encountered that are actually enforced?

[Bippy_the_Beardless]

@minor7flat5

Several months ago, the guys on the local talk radio station were going on about a town in north Jersey where it is against the law to eat in a parked car.

There were signs to that effect posted by the drive through windows at fast food restaurants, and many people called in to confirm that they or someone who they knew were nailed by the cops while munching down on a sub sandwich while parked in the shade on a pleasant spring afternoon.

I am not sure what the purpose of this ordinance is, other than generating revenue and pissing off the offenders. Some said that it might be an attempt at reducing littering.

Was it legal there to eat in a moving vehicle? If it was then this beggars belief.

[Miller]

@js_africanus

I’d have to go with drug laws.

Ditto. The stupidity of most of these other laws is mostly mitigated by the mildness of their repurcussions.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Miller

Ditto. The stupidity of most of these other laws is mostly mitigated by the mildness of their repurcussions.

Say what???

I’ve got a lot of patients in my prison who are doing 3 to 5 years for non-violent drug crimes. Such as “dealing”, which is defined as having over 15 pills of a prescription drug which was not prescribed for you. Any good junkie will have lots more than that on their person without any intent to ever “deal”. Hell, most of these guys will take 15 pills at a time for their fix.

[Mr.Blue_Sky]

@Mama Zappa

Which means that on a Sunday, you can purchase copies of Playboy, Hustler etc. - but you can NOT purchase a Bible

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

[Gest]

@Qadgop the Mercotan

Say what???

Miller is actually agreeing drug laws are over the top. According to him, it’s the others that have mild repercussions. I’d also agree on the drug laws. There was a recent Metafilter thread where someone claimed Federal assistance for students was denied to those with drug convictions. Murderers and rapists are still eligible though.

[Revtim]

@Mama Zappa

Bergen County New Jersey has (or had, my info is a couple years old) some pretty strict blue laws about what can and cannot be sold on Sundays.

Periodicals (newspapers, magazines) can be sold.

Most other goods - including things like books - cannot be sold on Sundays.

Which means that on a Sunday, you can purchase copies of Playboy, Hustler etc. - but you can NOT purchase a Bible

What on EARTH is the justification behind prohibiting BOOKS from being sold on a Sunday? I can at least barely grasp the ridiculous arguments against selling alcohol, but books? WTF?

[Laughing_Lagomorph]

@gfloyd

…

MA has dumb alcohol laws. You can’t buy liquor on Sundays where my parents live, in Waltham, as it’s just west of Waltham, but you can where I live in Lowell, as it is near the border. WTF?

You might want to check into the situation near your parents again. The MA liquor laws have recently been loosened up and it is now essentially up to each town if they want to allow liquor sales on Sundays. Many now do, although I am not sure if Waltham is one of them.

[Miller]

Thanks, Gest. That was indeed the gist of the nub of the point of my post.

[elfbabe]

@Gest

There was a recent Metafilter thread where someone claimed Federal assistance for students was denied to those with drug convictions.

I think that actually happened to a friend of a friend of mine some years ago. I don’t remember the exact details of it, but I know that some aspect of a fairly minor drug conviction in her youth prevented her from ever receiving aid for college.

[vl_mungo]

At least some of you 'Mericans can usually buy beer and some other alcohols at your corner store. Round these parts, you can only buy alcohol at government liquor stores and cold beer and wine stores. The majority of these stores close between 7:00 - 9:00 PM, and all of them close by 11:00 PM.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Miller

Thanks, Gest. That was indeed the gist of the nub of the point of my post.

:smack:
I’ll try to read for comprehension next time.

[bouv]

@Ghanima

In Vermont, you cannot dance and drink at the same time. Which means that bars or clubs with dance spaces have to designate a clear separate “dance area” and enforce that people are not dancing while drinking. You can dance over to a table, and take a drink, but you better not still be shaking your booty when you take that sip.
In Vermont they also have those state liquor stores, which are closed on Sundays. Other stores can sell beer and wine but not sake or “malt beverages” for whatever reason, and you can’t get sherry at the grocery store either. So if you want to cook with some sherry on a Sunday, you’d better buy it the day before or you are screwed.

Are you sure? I was looking here and the only restrictions I found on when alcohol can be sold is that type I + III licenses (bars and resteraunts) can sell from 8 AM until 2 AM, and type 2 (liquor stores and such) can sell from 6 AM till midnight. I know I have bought both beer and hard liquor in VT in the state liquor stores on a sunday. I can’t say anything to the dancing, because I have never been in any actual bar or dance club in VT, but I am 99% sure you can buy all the damn booze you want, any kind, on a sunday.

And no sherry in a grovery store? I disagree. Sherry is wine, and wine can be bought in grocery stores in VT. The only thing that can’t be bought in a grocery store is hard liquor. And yes, they have to be bought in a state store, but a lot of regular stores can have a state store attached. All that you need to do it get a license, put up a ‘state liquor store’ sign, and have a seperate register for liquor sales. You don’t even need to seperate the liquor from the rest of the store.

(here is the specific section on times of sale.)

[Gest]

And yet, correct me if I’m wrong vl_mungo, but weed seems almost ubiquitous and barely policed in BC. The one thing I hear from Vancouverians (?) and read on the internet about BC is how widespread cannabis is. I can’t stand stoned people or the smell of it so it’s not like I’m zeroing in on an aspect that’s particularly enticing to me either. However, I do tend to prefer the kinds of places with progressive attitudes to drug laws.

[Gest]

Fuck I’m an idiot! :smack: :smack:

I saw BC in peripheral vision and thought Canada.

[EvilGhandi]

Qadgop,

Please tell me that offenders doing 3-5 frigging years for a single dose are a tiny minority of the general population.

[Silentgoldfish]

@Qadgop the Mercotan

Say what???

I’ve got a lot of patients in my prison who are doing 3 to 5 years for non-violent drug crimes. Such as “dealing”, which is defined as having over 15 pills of a prescription drug which was not prescribed for you. Any good junkie will have lots more than that on their person without any intent to ever “deal”. Hell, most of these guys will take 15 pills at a time for their fix.

Woah. Then according to that law I’m a dealer as my mum left most of her tegratol behind when she went overseas on business.

Does this mean I’ve got to grow a thin moustache and start wearing leather?

[Jervoise]

On the same lines as Sean Factotum…

Here in London (Westminster Council), there are pubs where you can drink, but not dance. Some have signs posted to that effect, but the staff treat it is a bit of joke.

(At least, there’s no-one patrolling the crowd watching out for suspicous toe-tapping or hip-swivelling.

“You there! Stop that suspicious shimmying!”

“I can’t help it! The music has me!”)

[vl_mungo]

@Gest

Fuck I’m an idiot! :smack: :smack:

I saw BC in peripheral vision and thought Canada.

Actually… you were right in the first place.

Regarding our marijuana laws… a couple of weeks ago the police finally got around to busting a restaurant that was openly selling pot and pot infused products. And then, only because the restaurant actually reported itself (kinda makes you wonder what they were on . )
Our mayor has also gone on record saying that he thinks the police can probably find something better to do with their time.
Here’s more

[frenetic_amnesic]

Well here in Texas bars can sell drinks until 2:00 a.m., whereas stores stop selling beer and wine at 12:00 p.m. and liquer stores usually close at around 9:00 p.m. I don’t see the logic since at bars most people have to drive home after drinking so they should stop selling earlier while people usually go to stores to buy beer for drinking at home! Whatever… Oh and forget about thinking you will get off easy with pot a single “doobie” will get you up to two years!

[Ghanima]

bouv, I couldn’t get either link to work. But I lived there from 2000-2002 and honestly now that you ask maybe I’m thinking of Colorado with the closed on Sunday thing(?) But I do know that I had to go to the state liquor store for sherry because I needed it to cook with. They did not sell it at the grocery store.