According to Virginia statutes and the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), any place with a liquor license is considered a “public place.” Accordingly, police are allowed free access to such places, and, should they find any customer over the legal alcohol limit of .08 or suspect a customer of being intoxicated while still being served or present in an establishment, police can write that person a ticket for public intoxication.
Now how much does that suck? Lessee, as I recall, the BAC limit of .08 is what? 2 drinks for a normal sized person? So, I go into a bar, have two drinks and the Gestapo can drag me outside, run me through a field-sobriety test and potentially ticket me for public intoxication. I’m beginning to seriously believe in John Derbyshire’s super-secret EFTA Suuure, why go out and track down real criminals when you can make your quota of “public service” by molesting otherwise law abiding citizens who’ve stopped by for happy hour? Brilliant.
And never mind getting blotto in a pub and walking home. Certainly I’ve, once or twice, been so trashed that I should have been cited for public intoxication. There was the one time I broke an ankle on the way home and the other time that I was singing rebel songs so loudly people were opening their windows and yelling at me to shut up (just like some old movie about New York). I could go on but I’ll spare you.
Just wait until MADD passes the .04 BAC limit. Oh boy, then if you have one drink you’re busted. So much for a glass of wine with dinner. Doesn’t anyone remember how well Prohibition worked out?