Training Resources – State Laws

Alcohol Laws by State

Alcohol laws are laws in relation to the manufacture, use, influence and sale of ethanol (ethyl alcohol, EtOH) or alcoholic beverages that contains ethanol. These laws mandate the legal drinking age, amount of pure alcohol by volume per serving, the use of vehicles and machinery, and where alcohol is allowed to be sold and consumed.  In the last 50 years, drunk driving laws have been put into place to protect individuals and the general public.

All fifty states have drunk driving laws which limit how much alcohol a person can consume before driving a car on a road. The permitted blood alcohol content threshold ranges from 0.0% to 0.08%.

Punishments for violation include fines, temporary or permanent loss of driver’s license, and imprisonment. Some jurisdictions have similar prohibitions for drunk sailing, drunk bicycling, and even drunk rollerblading. In many places in the United States, it is also illegal to have an open container of an alcoholic beverage in the passenger compartment of a vehicle.