Journal de l'alcoolisme et de la toxicomanie
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Editorial Note on Alcohol law

Ramya Kusuma Koripella

Alcohol laws are laws in relation to the manufacture, use, being under the influence of and sale of alcohol (also known formally as ethanol) or alcoholic beverages that contains ethanol. Common alcoholic beverages include beer, wine, cider, and distilled spirits (e.g., vodka, rum, gin). The United States defines an alcoholic beverage as, "any beverage in liquid form which contains not less than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume",[1] but this definition varies internationally. These laws can restrict those who can produce alcohol, those who can buy it (often with minimum age restrictions and laws against selling to an already intoxicated person), when one can buy it (with hours of serving and/or days of selling set out), labelling and advertising, the types of alcoholic beverage that can be sold (e.g., some stores can only sell beer and wine), where one can consume it (e.g., drinking in public is not legal in many parts of the US), what activities are prohibited while intoxicated (e.g., drunk driving), and where one can buy it. In some cases, laws have even prohibited the use and sale of alcohol entirely, as with Prohibition in the United States from 1920 to 1933.