Given the number of my recent posts regarding alcohol I have every intent to write a story that has nothing to do with drinking.
But this won’t be it.
Not when tomorrow is a prodigious milestone in the annals of alcoholic consumption, namely the 75th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition.
And I would suggest that you don’t leave until you at least take a quick look, below, at a CamelBak application you would never have dreamed of.
The repeal of prohibition was the result of the 21st Amendment, which somewhat ironically is the legal drinking age, at least in my home state of California.
But what is the travel slant to this news tidbit?
Well, if you happen to be on a road trip across the good ol’ U.S. of A it might behoove you to know what post-prohibition “blue laws” remain on the books, some more bizarre than others.
Prohibition became the law of the land under the 18th Amendment and was fueled by a plethora of crazy ideas that were circulated and now appear to be something beyond fiction.
To name but a few:
“A major prohibitionist group, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) taught as “scientific fact” that the majority of beer drinkers die from dropsie (edema or swelling).”
“Some desperate and unfortunate people during Prohibition falsely believed that the undrinkable alcohol in antifreeze could be made safe and drinkable by filtering it through a loaf of bread. It couldn’t and many were seriously injured or killed as a result.”
“Prohibition led to a boom in the cruise industry. By taking what were advertised as “cruises to nowhere,” people could legally consume alcohol as soon as the ship entered international waters where they would typically cruise in circles.”
The last one might explain why some cruise ship passengers are famous to this day for heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages.
And prohibitionists did not want to take violations lightly, so they created a list of possible punishments:
hung by the tongue beneath an airplane and flown over the country exiled to concentration camps in the Aleutian Islands excluded from any and all churches forbidden to marry tortured branded whipped sterilized tattooed placed in bottle-shaped cages in public squares forced to swallow two ounces of caster oil executed, as well as their progeny to the fourth generation
The only thing that seems to be missing is waterboarding.
And why do some of them look a lot like modern voluntary measures or even methods of pleasure for certain people (not me, of course).
But it wasn’t the 18th Amendment that banned us from carrying any liquids–alcohol included–over 3oz. onboard a commercial airline flight.
Given that no one in their right mind would want to drink the “tap” water onboard an airliner and with more and more airlines now charging for a bottle of water (can you spell monopoly?!?) we are forced to suffer a constant state of dehydration, which as any frequent flyer knows, is counterproductive to reducing the affect of jet lag.
So, how can we somehow prevail in our need for adequate libations liquids on commercial airline passages?
Well, I have just discovered the potentially perfect solution which utilizes a CamelBak reservoir, just packed in an unusual position.
Unless you are morbidly obese already, according to the ad this creative device makes it possible to carry over a six-pack of your favorite brew, or over 80 oz. of another personal drink of choice, and just make it look like you have been drinking a lot too much of same.
In other words, you will look just like a typical red-blooded American.
These people are geniuses!
The same company also markets a product for woman called the WineRack. 
I will leave it to your imagination (or by clicking on this link) to view the obvious.
I just dare you to ask that woman in Seat 16B why she seems to be “shrinking” in a certain area as the flight progresses.
And it gives the concept of breast feeding a whole new meaning.
Looking at the website, to my knowledge there is nothing metal in either contraption.
So for the guy’s beverage containment system, the question is which one of you will risk a TSA pat-down and have to answer why your “stomach” is making a funny sloshing sound.
“Gee, officer, maybe I overdid my pre-hydration for my flight to Singapore.”
I am currently an officer of the National WCTU. I have a collection of our handouts and books from years gone by. I have to say that I don’t recall any of these “possible punishments” in ANY of our books, handouts or even minutes to our meetings.
Where do you come up with this stuff?
I signed the pledge, joined the YTC (youth group of the WCTU) at age 12. I have 5 children and I am a retired Deputy Sheriff. My husband is a Police Officer, two of our children are EMTs and one is a Police Officer. We see first hand the harm alcohol does.
Currently the WCTU is working against the Amethyst Initiative. We believe the drinking age at 21 should not be lowered.
Every year, thousands of people are harmed by alcohol use and college students are no exception. According to a study published in the 2005 Anual Review of Public Health, (yes, we do believe in scientific information) alcohol was a contributing factor in the accidental deaths of 1,717 college students. More that 500,000 college students were unintentionally injured due to alcohol use. In addition, a study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism showed that 71,000 students are the victims of sexual assault and date rape each year due to other student’s drinking. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DRINK OR DRIVE TO BE HARMED BY ALCOHOL!
The WCTU has is working on the Face the Tears Project (www.facethetears.org). It will contain 1,717 handkerchiefs that will represt the number of college students
(sorry, grandchild hit a key on the computer)
who WILL DIE THIS SCHOOL YEAR – if history is any indicationn of the future.
Then besides all the other types of harm alcohol does, there is still the fact that it causes fetal alcohol spectrum (FAS). FAS remains the LEADING CAUSE OF MENTAL RETARDATION. It is totally preventable.
The point is …. ALCOHOL STILL HARMS.
There’s some heavy lifting needed here for this early in the morning, but here are a few quick quips:
• I find “this stuff” on other websites, for which I provide clear links; if you are unfamiliar with the use of the internets, the links are noted by the underlined words that are in a different color. I will leave it to you to determine their accuracy, which can be said for ALL websites (including mine AND yours).
• Myself and my family include peace officers and firefighters, also. And teachers, too.
• Your website has the following philosophy: Temperance may be defined as: moderation in all things healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful.
• For much of society, alcohol is not inherently “harmful”, no more so than child discipline, driving, guns, or religious dogma; its only when practiced dangerously or to excess does it become an issue.
• My religious upbringing included the consumption of alcohol (wine) as described in the bible. And wasn’t it Jesus who turned water into wine?
• There seems to be conclusive evidence for beneficial health applications of some alcohol.
And with that being said – early in the morning or not – now I need a drink!