# What was legal "back in the day" that is illegal now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 6, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078 "2005-06-06T02:09:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/1 "2005-06-06T02:09:02Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=319746), I would like to know what you could do back in the “good ol’ days” that you can’t do now. For example, I know that kids pretty much used to be able to buy cigarettes and alcohol, because it was assumed they were either buying it for their parents, or the merchant didn’t care since there was little stigma. What else? Adam ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/2 "2005-06-06T02:10:09Z")
I’m sorry, if a mod would be kind enough to move this to IMHO, I would appreciate it. Sorry. Adam ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/3 "2005-06-06T02:13:26Z")
Drive a car without the seat belt on. Because, you know, they didn’t have them. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/4 "2005-06-06T02:17:46Z")
Drivine with a BAC of .10. Federal highway money has lowered it to .08 in every state I’m aware of. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/5 "2005-06-06T02:45:09Z")
Off to **IMHO**. **Cajun Man** for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/6 "2005-06-06T02:51:57Z")
drive WHILE drinking…seriously rolling down the road with a beer in your lap. my Grandma told me when she was a kid the neighborhood would put out old furniture and stuff on halloween for the kids to make a bonfire in the street with… ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/7 "2005-06-06T02:58:51Z")
Buy dynamite at the local hardware store. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/8 "2005-06-06T03:24:12Z")
Buy a pistol in a pawnshop and take it with you. Same with switchblade knives. In Dallas, there were curb service places where one could sit in one’s car and consume all the beer he could pay for, brought to the car by “carhops.” ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/9 "2005-06-06T03:25:42Z")
LSD was legal in the fifties; many psychiatrists used it as a way to “get into” the headspace of a schizophrenic. Amphetamines as potent as the ones you’d find on the street today were a heavily prescribed medication back then too. Cocaine was legal in the 1800s, and its use was encouraged by many doctors. Oh, those crazy medical types! ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/10 "2005-06-06T04:02:25Z")
Well, now remember, this was small town Arkansas in the 50’s, but both my dad and aunt were behind the wheel before they were 14, enough so they’d drive from town to town on the back roads. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/11 "2005-06-06T04:33:50Z")
The drinking age in the majority of states used to be 18 before 1984. We had half-barrel parties in the den of my dorm floor in college. Before the gas crises of 1970s, the top speed limit on the interstate highways used to be 75 mph during the day (65 at night). Civilians in the U.S. could own automatic weapons like machine guns until 1934 There were no federal laws prohibiting marijuana until 1937. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/12 "2005-06-06T04:48:55Z")
> [@](#): > > The drinking age in the majority of states used to be 18 before 1984. We had half-barrel parties in the den of my dorm floor in college. > > Before the gas crises of 1970s, the top speed limit on the interstate highways used to be 75 mph during the day (65 at night). A couple of points on these: Prior to Congress lowering the voting age to 18 (effectively lowering the age (or forcing the states to lower the age) of majority to the same), the drinking age was a hodge-podge across the country, with some states setting the drinking age at 21, some at 18 or 19, and some with a hybrid law that allowed 3.2% alcohol beer (near beer) to be consumed between 18 and 21. 75 mph speed limits were pretty much a Western phenomenon. I know of no state East of the Mississippi with a limit that high. And, of course, that was not a limit that extended back through the whole age of automobiles. Prior to the Interstate system, 65 mph was the upper limit in most Eastern states (and all the Western states I remember riding through) even on four-lane divided highways such as turnpikes. The speed limit signs used to be painted with a special reflective paint that showed “65” in the sunlight, but reflected “55” in the headlights of a car after dark. The 70 mph limit was only implemented (in the East) around 1964, and not in every state, then. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/13 "2005-06-06T05:16:17Z")
Oh, the uniform drinking age/age of ajority was implemented in the very early 1970s. I am not sure whether every state implemented it on the same day; Michigan’s age limits dropped on January 1, 1972. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/14 "2005-06-06T06:18:33Z")
> [@Tomndebb](#): > > The speed limit signs used to be painted with a special reflective paint that showed “65” in the sunlight, but reflected “55” in the headlights of a car after dark. Really? Cool. Never heard of that before. Way back when (like 3 weeks ago), you could yak on the cellphone while driving in Chicago. Nowadays, it’s forbidden. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/15 "2005-06-06T06:53:08Z")
I remember I used to stand up in the front seat of my dad’s truck while was driving with a beer in his lap Now, that there, is what I call a double wammy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/16 "2005-06-06T06:59:09Z")
Duelling! ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/17 "2005-06-06T07:31:20Z")
Ah, those wild and wooly days when tying one’s elephant to a parking meter was all in good fun. Damn those wacky laws. Damn them all. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/18 "2005-06-06T08:15:05Z")
Depending upon the jurisdiction, certain kinds (or all kinds) of fireworks. When I was growing up, initially only “safe and sane” fireworks (e.g., sparklers, fountains, and snakes) were legal. Then, the Republicans took over the state legislature in 1980 and promptly legalized firecrackers, bottle rockets, Roman candles, buzz bombs, shells, and everything else that had previously only been available on the nearby Indian reservations. After several loud and fire-ridden Independence Days, the legislature (which was now back in Democratic control) banned firecrackers and left everything else up the cities and counties which, in the case of the more populous areas of the state, quickly banned _everything_ from the wimpiest black snake to the most explosively flamboyant aerial shell. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/19 "2005-06-06T08:44:14Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > drive WHILE drinking…seriously rolling down the road with a beer in your lap. Saw a 70s flick the other day with Bill Cosby, playing an admirable character, nursing beers while driving an ambulance. Yeah, that’s changed. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/20 "2005-06-06T10:17:07Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Oh, the uniform drinking age/age of ajority was implemented in the very early 1970s. I am not sure whether every state implemented it on the same day; Michigan’s age limits dropped on January 1, 1972. I could drink legally in NY at 18 in 1981/82. Then, on my 19th birthday, June 2, 1982 they passed a law changing it to 19 (although it wasn’t implemented until later - like January 1, 1983 or something) and then it went up to 21 soon after I turned 21. However, when I say to my RI friends, hey, remember when we would drink at 18 or 19 as kids? they don’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078.md?page=2)