Editing Missouri (section)

===Alcohol and tobacco laws===
{{Main|Alcohol laws of Missouri|List of smoking bans in the United States#Missouri}}

Missouri has been known for its population's generally "stalwart, conservative, noncredulous" attitude toward regulatory regimes, which is one of the origins of the state's unofficial nickname, the "Show-Me State".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/slogan.asp |title=Missouri Secretary of State—State Archives—Origin of "Show Me" slogan |publisher=Sos.mo.gov |access-date=July 31, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724211551/http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/slogan.asp |archive-date=July 24, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, and combined with the fact that Missouri is one of America's leading alcohol states, regulation of alcohol and tobacco in Missouri is among the most [[laissez-faire]] in America. In 2013, the [[Mercatus Center]] ranked Missouri third for alcohol freedom and first for tobacco freedom.<ref name=gmufreedom>{{cite web |url=http://freedominthe50states.org/overall/missouri |title=''Freedom in the 50 States-Missouri'' |author=Mercatus Center |date=March 28, 2013 |website=Freedom in the 50 States |publisher=[[George Mason University]] |access-date=March 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407162026/http://freedominthe50states.org/overall/missouri |archive-date=April 7, 2013 |url-status=live |author-link=Mercatus Center }}</ref> The state's alcohol laws are notably lax, with no blue laws, low taxes, and broad access to alcohol in locations like drugstores and gas stations. Additionally, Missouri's tobacco laws are equally permissive, including the lowest cigarette excise tax in the nation.<ref name=gmufreedom /> Missouri law makes it "an improper employment practice" for an employer to refuse to hire, to fire, or otherwise to disadvantage any person because that person lawfully uses alcohol or tobacco products outside of work.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C200-299/2900000145.HTM |title=Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.145 |publisher=Moga.mo.gov |date=August 28, 2009 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808034636/http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C200-299/2900000145.HTM |archive-date=August 8, 2010 }}</ref> 

With a large German immigrant population and the development of a brewing industry, Missouri always has had among the most permissive [[alcohol laws of the United States by state|alcohol laws in the United States]]. It has never enacted statewide [[prohibition in the United States|prohibition]]. Missouri has no statewide [[United States open container laws|open container law]] or prohibition on [[drinking in public]], no alcohol-related [[blue law]]s, no [[local option]], no precise locations for selling liquor by the package (allowing even [[drug store]]s and [[filling station]]s to sell any kind of liquor), and no differentiation of laws based on alcohol percentage. State law protects persons from arrest or criminal penalty for [[public intoxication]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C000-099/0670000305.HTM |title=Mo. Rev. Stat. § 67.305 |publisher=Moga.mo.gov |date=August 28, 2009 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701093303/http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C000-099/0670000305.HTM |archive-date=July 1, 2010 }}</ref>

Missouri law expressly prohibits any jurisdiction from going [[dry county|dry]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3110000170.HTM |title=Mo. Rev. Stat. § 311.170 |publisher=Moga.mo.gov |date=August 28, 2009 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830160839/http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3110000170.HTM |archive-date=August 30, 2010 }}</ref> Missouri law also expressly allows parents and guardians to serve alcohol to their children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3110000310.HTM |title=Mo. Rev. Stat. § 311.310 |publisher=Moga.mo.gov |date=August 28, 2009 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527124105/http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3110000310.HTM |archive-date=May 27, 2010 }}</ref> The [[Power & Light District]] in Kansas City is one of the few places in the United States where a state law explicitly allows persons over 21 to possess and consume open containers of alcohol in the street (as long as the beverage is in a plastic cup).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3110000086.HTM |title=Mo. Rev. Stat. § 311.086 |publisher=Moga.mo.gov |date=August 28, 2009 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829203656/http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C300-399/3110000086.HTM |archive-date=August 29, 2010 }}</ref>

Missouri had the lowest cigarette excise taxes in the United States in 2016, at 17 cents per pack,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0097.pdf |title=State Cigarette Excise Tax Rates |access-date=November 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161004215627/http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0097.pdf |archive-date=October 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the state electorate voted in 2002, 2006, 2012, and twice in 2016 to keep it that way.<ref>"A burning issue", ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', November 12, 2006</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/missouri-keeps-tobacco-tax-as-the-lowest-in-the-nation/article_636bb3bb-4634-5eea-adf7-51f16cc0b333.html|title=Missouri keeps tobacco tax as the lowest in the nation|first=Tim|last=O'Neil|website=stltoday.com|date=November 6, 2012 |access-date=February 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713143016/https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/missouri-keeps-tobacco-tax-as-the-lowest-in-the-nation/article_636bb3bb-4634-5eea-adf7-51f16cc0b333.html|archive-date=July 13, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]], in 2008 Missouri had the fourth highest percentage of adult smokers among U.S. states, at 24.5%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/list.asp?cat=TU&yr=2008&qkey=4396&state=All |title=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System—Adults who are current smokers", September 19, 2008 |publisher=Apps.nccd.cdc.gov |date=May 15, 2009 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310192932/http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/list.asp?cat=TU&yr=2008&qkey=4396&state=All |archive-date=March 10, 2010 }}</ref> Although federal law prohibits the sale of tobacco to persons under 21, tobacco products can be distributed to persons under 21 by family members on private property.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C400-499/4070000931.HTM |title=Mo. Rev. Stat. § 407.931.3 |publisher=Moga.mo.gov |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815012627/http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C400-499/4070000931.HTM |archive-date=August 15, 2010 }}</ref>

No statewide [[smoking ban]] ever has been seriously entertained before the [[Missouri General Assembly]], and in October 2008, a statewide survey by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services found that only 27.5% of Missourians support a statewide ban on smoking in all bars and restaurants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dhss.mo.gov/County_level_study/header.php?cnty=929&profile_type=2&chkBox=C |title=Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, ''County Level Survey 2007: Secondhand Smoke for Missouri Adults'', October 1, 2008 |publisher=Dhss.mo.gov |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216141745/http://www.dhss.mo.gov/County_level_study/header.php?cnty=929&profile_type=2&chkBox=C |archive-date=December 16, 2008 }}</ref> Missouri state law permits restaurants seating less than 50 people, bars, bowling alleys, and billiard parlors to decide their own smoking policies, without limitation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://moga.mo.gov/statutes/C100-199/1910000769.HTM |title=Mo. Rev. Stat. § 191.769 |publisher=Moga.mo.gov |date=August 28, 2009 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111210110244/http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/C100-199/1910000769.HTM |archive-date=December 10, 2011 }}</ref>