Bar owners in New Mexico who don't want to break the law are required to have paranormal gifts. That is, according to a newly proposed law, they must know if a customer who leaves their establishment intends to drink more over the next two hours — perhaps at a friend's home. If so, and the drinker is caught with a blood alcohol content (BAC) exceeding 0.14, the bar owner will be deemed legally responsible and may lose his license.
An identical level of alcohol intake affects people of different weights differently, so the bartender, in order to arrive at the customer's BAC, will need to estimate not just how many drinks the customer has already had and will imbibe over the next two hours, but also how much the drinker weighs. Oh, and that bartender had better also know at what rate the individual's metabolism releases alcohol into the bloodstream. It's fact that it varies from person to person, just as it's a fact that a drinker's BAC is likely to be higher as time passes and more alcohol is absorbed into the blood.
And of course there will not be any selective enforcement on the part of the police.
Posted by: Amsterdamsky | Monday, July 10, 2006 at 01:40 PM
Just another way of shutting down speakeasies - ah, bars and restaurants. And, I guess, art galleries.
If you'll pardon an anecdote - some years ago my tipple was a double shot of tequila straight up. Out with friends one night, the fourth round was mine. The bartender, as he put the drinks on a tray, asked in a low voice which nutter was drinking that: he was a bit abashed when I replied...
Posted by: John Anderson | Monday, July 10, 2006 at 09:08 PM
Ansterdamsky, you mean like this?
http://hammeroftruth.com/2006/07/10/top-utah-dui-cop-crashes-cruiser-while-drunk/
Posted by: GreginOz | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 02:57 AM