# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/21 "2005-06-06T10:41:16Z")
Up until pretty recently (three/five years ago?), it was still legal in the state of Texas to drive around with open containers of alcohol in the vehicle. As in, you’re driving, and your passengers are drinking, and it’s all groovy. I would assume the fact that all you had to do as the driver was hand your drink to your passenger, in the event that you got pulled over, is the reason this was eventually outlawed. What I find intriguing is how long it took this liberty to be revoked. (Called the “open container” law.) It seems pretty obvious that an open beer anywhere in a vehicle is probably not a good idea. What is still baffling to me is that if you buy a single bottle/can of beer from a convenience store, they _still_ put it in those tiny brown bags that barely cover the lip of the can or bottle. I see it all the time. You know, b/c if it’s got a brown bag around it, and you’re driving around with it, of course it’s probably Diet Coke. :rolleyes: ---
**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, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/22 "2005-06-06T11:29:53Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > 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. We need that 'round here. :rolleyes: > [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > Duelling! Last I heard, duelling was still legal in Maryland. 😃 Adam ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/23 "2005-06-06T11:39:23Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > 75 mph speed limits were pretty much a Western phenomenon. I know of no state East of the Mississippi with a limit that high. I seem to recall that the speed limit on much of I-74 in North Carolina was 75 when I drove there about 3 months ago. Anyone know for sure? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/24 "2005-06-06T12:20:21Z")
Absinthe, that wonderful intoxicating substance, was once legal in the USA and is now banned. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/25 "2005-06-06T12:25:28Z")
Travelling between countries without a passport or visa was the norm (did passports even exist?) until surprisingly recently – the 1920’s, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/26 "2005-06-06T13:01:15Z")
Riding motorcycles without helmets, at least in my state. And bicycles, for that matter. Holding babies on your lap in the car. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/27 "2005-06-06T13:02:19Z")
Buying firearms through the mail. My first .22 came via the Sears catalog. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/28 "2005-06-06T13:08:06Z")
I was going to mention fireworks in some states, but **NDP** beat me to it. There were far more lenient anti-smoking laws, so I’d say “being able to light up wherever and whenever you want.” Non-smoking sections in restaurants and bars were rare, smoking was permitted in public places (malls, movie theaters, and so on), and sometimes permitted in confined spaces such as elevators. I’ve seen many an old elevator with an ashtray built into one of the cab walls. Ecstasy was legal until 1986. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/29 "2005-06-06T13:40:05Z")
Carrying knifes, guns, nail clippers, paper cutters, scissors, etc. onto a plane. ---
**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, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/30 "2005-06-06T14:54:48Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Travelling between countries without a passport or visa was the norm (did passports even exist?) until surprisingly recently — the 1920’s, IIRC. U.S. passports were issued as far back as 1795. For the [National Archives](http://www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/research_topics/passport_applications.html): > [@](#): > > Foreign travel in the nineteenth century was much more frequent than one might expect. Overseas travelers included businessmen, the middle class, and naturalized U.S. citizens who returned to their homelands to visit relatives. For example, statistics show that the State Department issued 130,360 passports between 1810 and 1873, more than 369,844 between 1877 and 1909, and more than 1,184,085 between 1912 and 1925. It is unknown how many American citizens traveled abroad with passports issued by state or judicial authorities prior to 1856 or without any passport prior to 1918. Passports were required from August 19, 1861, to March 17, 1862, during the Civil War. Passports were recommended, but not required, by President Woodrow Wilson’s Executive Order of December 15, 1915, which stated that all persons leaving the U.S. should have passports. Passports were required from May 22, 1918, until the formal termination of World War I in 1921 by treaties. Passports have been required since the passage of the act of June 21, 1941, and subsequent legislation. ---
**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, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/31 "2005-06-06T16:16:41Z")
> [@](#): > > North Carolina was 75 when I drove there about 3 months ago I would not challenge that. My reference was to the speed limits prior to the Federally imposed 55 mph limit from the mid-70s. (There might have been eastern states with limits higher than 70 in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but I never encountered them. I’ll see if I can find an ancient Rand-McNally Road Atlas from that period.) > [@](#): > > 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. Throughout the 1970s, there was a growing sense among some people that lowering the drinking age had been a mistake and toward the end of the 70s a number of states began raising their drinking ages again until the Feds stepped in once more in the mid-80s to use fuel tax allocations to compel all the states to hike it to 21. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/32 "2005-06-06T16:27:41Z")
Coca Cola was so named because its chief ingredient was cocaine. Tilden’s Extract was an OTC drug which was basically extract of cannabis. Vibrators were initially developed so that doctors could treat female patients suffering from hysteria quickly and efficiently, instead of having to bring them to orgasm by hand. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/33 "2005-06-06T16:28:52Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Vibrators were initially developed so that doctors could treat female patients suffering from hysteria quickly and efficiently, instead of having to bring them to orgasm by hand. Wow! Cite? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/34 "2005-06-06T16:31:53Z")
(Not that cites are necessary in this IMHO forum. I’m just curious!) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/35 "2005-06-06T16:41:05Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Wow! Cite? [Here’s a work-safe link.](http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/00/3.30.00/Maines_book.html) I thought Cecil had written a column on the topic, but couldn’t turn up a link. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/36 "2005-06-06T16:44:16Z")
Thanks! Fascinating. Attention Cecil: If you _haven’t_ yet written anything on this topic, you most definitely _should_. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/37 "2005-06-06T16:59:15Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Absinthe, that wonderful intoxicating substance, was once legal in the USA and is now banned. Actually, from [Erowid.com](http://www.erowid.org/ask/ask.cgi?ID=2693) > [@](#): > > So, the situation, as I understand it: > It is illegal to sell thujone containing absinthe in the US for human consumption. > It is illegal for someone outside the US to sell thujone containing absinthe to someone inside the US. > It is not illegal to purchase thujone containing absinthe for personal use in the US. > It is not illegal to purchase thujone containing absinthe for personal use from outside the United States > Thujone containing absinthe can be seized by US customs (if it appears to be for human consumption). The information was based on FDA regulations as of 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/38 "2005-06-06T17:00:55Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Coca Cola was so named because its chief ingredient was cocaine. > > Tilden’s Extract was an OTC drug which was basically extract of cannabis. > . Of course, all such drugs were freely available over the counter way back when. With regard to Coca-Cola, I’ve more than once seen writers mistakenly substitute “cocoa” for “coca” when discussing the early history of the drink. It’s as if they can’t accept the fact that the origins of such a squeaky clean symbol of Americana is bound up with a dreaded illegal drug. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/39 "2005-06-06T17:02:22Z")
My father once told me that parents could go into a drugstore and pick up peregoric for a teething baby. But since it contained opium, I’m sure the medical community today frowns on such measures today. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-legal-back-in-the-day-that-is-illegal-now/307078/40 "2005-06-06T17:03:34Z")
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