For a nation that sprang from Puritanical beginnings, America moved quickly to one that glorified the rough and tumble, hard-drinking of the Old West. We moved into the 20th century and Americans fascination turned to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood movie stars with a drink in one hand and cigarette in the other…we followed their lead and culture shifted…. Adding automobiles to the mix brought a need for laws to curb some of our sins….
But, limiting civil rights in a country founded on freedom has not been an easy road.
Neither are roads filled with impaired drivers, however.
And we haven’t figured it out even still.
What does it mean to be legally impaired?
How much alcohol does it take?
This is America’s journey to discovering that too much of this “good thing” during pioneer days is deadly combined with our modern lifestyles.
Hear from a former Louisiana bartender about the “drive-thru” liquor store, from Mississippi’s renowned restauranteur and writer Robert St. John about how getting a DUI at 19 saved his life, and from a Mississippi man who explains why alcoholism and addiction are like fighting off the devil himself.
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