June 8
ON THIS DATE

Top court rejects beer prescriptions

In 1924, the San Bemardino Evening
Telegram ran a United Press story in which it
was reported that the SupremeCourt upheld
the act of Congress that expressly forbade the
prescription of beer for medicinal purposes,
stating that, the prohibition of alcohol was in
fact constitutional.
Lawyers for the James Everard's Brew-
eries attempted to determine the authority of
Congress to deny by legislative act the privi-
lege of drinking beer under a physidians's
prescription for its medicinal properties. ?
Lower courts had previously decided
Congress was well within its constitutional
powers when it enforced the ban.
The brewers appealed on the grounds
that the 18th Amendment did not empower
Congress to forbid the use of any sort of li-
quor as medicine. If beer was forbidden under
a doctor's prescription, it was argued, spirti-
eus liquors must also be forbidden under the
same circumstances.
The value of beer as a medicine was not
at issue in the case, only the power of Con-
gress to declare it unlawful to use it for me-
dicinal purposes.
The decision ended a dispute that began
in 1921 when Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer rendered an opinion that the 18th
Amendment did not prohibit the manufacture
of liquors under the guise of medicine.
The ruling led to the issuing of permits
for the distillation and distribution of alcohol
using a doctor's prescription..
A month later, Congress passed the
Willis-Campbell Act amending the national
prohibition act to forbid the use of beer for
medical purposes.