Rum by Prescription?

Though the end of the prohibition era wouldn’t come until the end of 1933 with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, liquor prescriptions were implemented throughout the country. A Cheney Free Press article details how, with the repeal of certain state liquor laws, medical prescriptions for liquor would become available on Dec. 8, 1932.

However, this wouldn’t “mean a thing” in Cheney, because the “2,000 Foot Law” prohibited the sale or distribution of liquor within 2,000 feet of a normal, reform, or agricultural school. Saloons and “Liquor Emporiums” had to move all the way across the railroad tracks to escape the 2,000 foot limit. And, up until prohibition, that worked just fine.

Incidentally, there is a loop-hole in the Cheney law prohibiting sale and distribution of alcohol which allows doctors and druggists to prescribe alcohol in good faith...as long as they do it greater than 2,000 feet from a school.