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And still to this day if you get caught with weed in Belgium they put you in front of a judge who is going to berate you for smoking a joint once per week. The

And still to this day if you get caught with weed in Belgium they put you in front of a judge who is going to berate you for smoking a joint once per week. There are still random police checks checks between Maastricht and Belgian cities on the other side. Same with public transportation. Many times, when entering Belgium, cops get on the bus with a dog to see if you have weed on you. And this is the same country that allows people to drink a beer while driving home from work.

dmoy 3y ago
> allows people to drink a beer while driving home from work. hold up, what? I knew various European countries had much less draconian liquor laws than the US, but... while driving?
- oezi 3y ago
  No European country restricts where you can drink (to my knowledge). Only what things you can do when drunk.
  - kdomanski 3y ago
    In Poland, drinking in public space (with some exceptions) is forbidden. Sometimes police will issue fines even for “intention to drink” if they see a person with an unopened bottle of beer.
  - swarnie 3y ago
    I had to look this up but apparently the UK doesn't either. Still, if a police officer exists within 10 miles of you and sees you and pulls you over its going to cause you a massive delay. I think its a 20 minute minimum wait before breath tests, then blood at a station.
    - leadingthenet 3y ago
      > I had to look this up but apparently the UK doesn't either. There are a few city-wide regulations in Scotland that prohibit it, possibly in other parts of the UK as well, but there's indeed no such national law.
  - vytautask 3y ago
    That's not true. E.g. Lithuania has laws restricting it (can not even have opened alcohol bottles inside of a car).
  - unwind 3y ago
    Huh? Please see [1] for examples (aka "Sweden has entered the chat"). [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_in_public https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_in_public
  - codethief 3y ago
    To my knowledge, in Spain you're not allowed to drink in public(?) Whether or not people/the police care seems to be an entirely different matter, though, and also depend on the city/region.
    - chmod775 3y ago
      It's allowed at the national level. Just some cities chose to ban it in either the entire city or certain areas.
  - SargeDebian 3y ago
    You are not allowed to have access to an open container while in the driver's seat in the Netherlands.
- nopcode 3y ago
  There's only a limit of how much alcohol you can have in your bloodstream. Doesn't matter how or when that alcohol got there. Drinking a beer in the car is just as legal here as drinking a pepsi. Personally I don't see the problem.
  - singleshot_ 3y ago
    This is how it was in certain western US states prior to Dole v. S. Dakota. In fact in my neck of the woods a few drive through liquor stores remain.
  - skrause 3y ago
    You wouldn't want to do that anyway because you'll give the police probable cause to take you to the police station for a blood test.
  - godelski 3y ago
    Oh that's much more reasonable. I always thought the US laws were weird because open container is a really weird thing to do anything more than be some suspicion (I think you should need more. Like someone is acting drunk, but hard to prove). Why can't my friends drink in the car? Why can't I have a trashbag full of empty cans that I'm bringing back from a camping trip? I gotta put those in my trunk? Not all vehicles have trunks. I can bring a bottle of wine or whisky to a friends, we don't drink all of it, and I gotta hide it or wrap it in duct tape to drive it home? The point of the law is about the danger posed to you, others, and property. Just focus on that.
- ManBeardPc 3y ago
  In Bavaria I've seen beer vending machines inside of factories with heavy machinery and forklifts everywhere.
  - metanonsense 3y ago
    Beer is to Bavarians, what guns are to Texans. Don‘t dare to even think of taking it from them.
    - luckystarr 3y ago
      The amount of beer consumed in Bavaria is on a decreasing trend. Breweries are worried and some are looking into exports. Times are changing.
- nippoo 3y ago
  Yup. This is the case in the UK too. You're not allowed to be drunk and drive, but you're absolutely allowed to have a can of beer while driving. This surprised me when going to the States - there's nothing stopping you from downing a can then getting in the car, but it's illegal to even have an open container of alcohol in the car (even if held by a passenger and you're teetotal)
tetris11 3y ago
The groups of armed military personnel stomping through train stations in Brussels was definitely a culture shock for me. Not even the US is like that.

dmoy 3y ago

> allows people to drink a beer while driving home from work. hold up, what? I knew various European countries had much less draconian liquor laws than the US, but... while driving?

oezi 3y ago
No European country restricts where you can drink (to my knowledge). Only what things you can do when drunk.
- kdomanski 3y ago
  In Poland, drinking in public space (with some exceptions) is forbidden. Sometimes police will issue fines even for “intention to drink” if they see a person with an unopened bottle of beer.
- swarnie 3y ago
  I had to look this up but apparently the UK doesn't either. Still, if a police officer exists within 10 miles of you and sees you and pulls you over its going to cause you a massive delay. I think its a 20 minute minimum wait before breath tests, then blood at a station.
  - leadingthenet 3y ago
    > I had to look this up but apparently the UK doesn't either. There are a few city-wide regulations in Scotland that prohibit it, possibly in other parts of the UK as well, but there's indeed no such national law.
- vytautask 3y ago
  That's not true. E.g. Lithuania has laws restricting it (can not even have opened alcohol bottles inside of a car).
- unwind 3y ago
  Huh? Please see [1] for examples (aka "Sweden has entered the chat"). [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_in_public https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_in_public
- codethief 3y ago
  To my knowledge, in Spain you're not allowed to drink in public(?) Whether or not people/the police care seems to be an entirely different matter, though, and also depend on the city/region.
  - chmod775 3y ago
    It's allowed at the national level. Just some cities chose to ban it in either the entire city or certain areas.
- SargeDebian 3y ago
  You are not allowed to have access to an open container while in the driver's seat in the Netherlands.
nopcode 3y ago
There's only a limit of how much alcohol you can have in your bloodstream. Doesn't matter how or when that alcohol got there. Drinking a beer in the car is just as legal here as drinking a pepsi. Personally I don't see the problem.
- singleshot_ 3y ago
  This is how it was in certain western US states prior to Dole v. S. Dakota. In fact in my neck of the woods a few drive through liquor stores remain.
- skrause 3y ago
  You wouldn't want to do that anyway because you'll give the police probable cause to take you to the police station for a blood test.
- godelski 3y ago
  Oh that's much more reasonable. I always thought the US laws were weird because open container is a really weird thing to do anything more than be some suspicion (I think you should need more. Like someone is acting drunk, but hard to prove). Why can't my friends drink in the car? Why can't I have a trashbag full of empty cans that I'm bringing back from a camping trip? I gotta put those in my trunk? Not all vehicles have trunks. I can bring a bottle of wine or whisky to a friends, we don't drink all of it, and I gotta hide it or wrap it in duct tape to drive it home? The point of the law is about the danger posed to you, others, and property. Just focus on that.
ManBeardPc 3y ago
In Bavaria I've seen beer vending machines inside of factories with heavy machinery and forklifts everywhere.
- metanonsense 3y ago
  Beer is to Bavarians, what guns are to Texans. Don‘t dare to even think of taking it from them.
  - luckystarr 3y ago
    The amount of beer consumed in Bavaria is on a decreasing trend. Breweries are worried and some are looking into exports. Times are changing.
nippoo 3y ago
Yup. This is the case in the UK too. You're not allowed to be drunk and drive, but you're absolutely allowed to have a can of beer while driving. This surprised me when going to the States - there's nothing stopping you from downing a can then getting in the car, but it's illegal to even have an open container of alcohol in the car (even if held by a passenger and you're teetotal)

tetris11 3y ago

The groups of armed military personnel stomping through train stations in Brussels was definitely a culture shock for me. Not even the US is like that.