History Main / EternalProhibition

* Today, in UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates, some counties and [[InjunCountry Native reservations]] still prohibit the use of alcohol.

** A significant number of communities in Alaska are "dry communities" where no alcohol is permitted. Enforcing this has proven to be extremely difficult, and these communities continue to have some of the highest alcohol abuse rates in the country.

* In ''Series/UFO1970'', the characters smoke in computer rooms, medical areas, and closed environments like SHADO's underground headquarters, submarines and the Moonbase. Some scenes look like they've been filmed through a minor fog.

Strangely, many future societies seem to have forgotten modern recreational chemistry, and have just one or two illicit drugs (e.g., Dust and Stims in ''Babylon 5''), which you will never see a character actually using, but which is clearly bad.

Ironically, with some cities now banning excessively large sugary soft drinks (or, more precisely, the cups in which they are served) due to worries about obesity and diabetes, this trope may look less and less like fiction as the years go by - only even more bizarre, with more and more harmless or at least unobjectionable substances now considered unhealthy as ScienceMarchesOn.

Subtrope of FutureSocietyPresentValues. See EternalSexualFreedom for modern mores working in the opposite direction.

* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' plays this one: it's immediately obvious that 14-year-old Toru is doing wrong every time he's smoking or drinking at the Cyberia. There are stronger drugs, such as Accela, a type of "[[{{Nanomachines}} nanomachine]] amphetamine", is very obviously illegal, gives you instant stimulation, and makes users homicidal and/or suicidal.
* Manga/{{Bleach}} has two characters, before a fight, having a genial conversation. Then one offers to share a drink with the other; "I can't, I'm a minor!" The refuser being in high school, and the presumptive host being several hundred years old....

* ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd''. In Mega-City One, coffee and sugar are illegal, since they are not only addictive, but their status as physical stimulants is a big problem in a place where the vast majority of people live an existence of total, idle luxury -- they could get even more out of control than they already do. Synthetics are used instead, but synthi-coffee was too good and became considered addictive, so it was outlawed. Hence, people drink synthi-synthi-coffee.

* In ''FanFic/DiariesOfAMadman'', alcohol is banned in Equestria following a NoodleIncident with one of the princesses, though Celestia turns a blind eye to Nav sharing secrets on how to make it. It's averted with most other drugs however, which are freely sold and consumed.

* In ''Film/The6thDay'', tobacco is an illicit substance, and Arnie's character enjoys an illicit puff on one of his trademark cigars.

* Happens literally in the 1930's sci-fi musical comedy ''Film/JustImagine'', where Prohibition is still going strong in the far-flung future of 1980.

* Jasper from ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'' complains about the government sending out suicide kits with the food rations but not legalizing cannabis.
* In ''Film/MinorityReport'' the drug-addicted hero, a police officer (played by Tom Cruise) lives in a futuristic society that has flying cars, hoversuits, and future-predicting crime units, but drugs are banned.

* Used in a Creator/HPLovecraft humor piece ''Old Bugs'', which he wrote in 1919, which relates an encounter between a drunkard and a naive young man in a speakeasy for illegal whiskey-drinkers ''[[FailedFutureForecast in 1950]]''. (Lovecraft, who didn't drink, wrote it, however, to jokingly warn a friend, a.k.a. the "Old Bugs" of the title, as to what would happen to him if he kept on drinking.)
* In Creator/EEDocSmith's ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' series, a good deal of the Galactic Patrol's efforts are spent thwarting illegal trade in "Thionite." When one Lensman goes undercover to infiltrate a Thionite trafficking organization, we discover that even plain old ''morphine'' is apparently still illegal. In many ways, Smith was a visionary (much of his military technology puts both Death Stars firmly in the shade). In some others, he was very definitely a product of his time and it shows in the writing. Thionite was one of his more lethal contrivances, in that unlike all the others, continued use of this drug would ALWAYS lead eventually to a fatal overdose.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'': In early seasons the characters appear to live in the 1930s, drinking whiskey and smoking cigars. Partially subverted in the new series where 'Chamalla' is a legal hallucinogen sometimes used for religious purposes. And in one flashback President Roslin and Admiral Adama enjoy an unnamed substance strongly resembling Marijuana.[[note]]The legal status of Chamalla seems to be akin to that of Peyote in the US -- it is a controlled substance with specific exceptions for medical and religious use, and it becomes a matter of political scandal when Roslin is suspected of using it recreationally. Treating cancer was seen as a reasonable excuse, but seeking religious visions was not. At the very least the President should not be taking a hallucinogen while making vital decisions.[[/note]]\\
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Fighter pilots are encouraged to take stims, which can lead to addiction if not carefully monitored, as exemplified by Kat.
* In contradiction of the trope's description, both those drugs are used by main characters in ''Series/BabylonFive''. As it turns out, there is very good reason that "Dust" is illegal--despite seemingly being Space Cocaine, it actually temporarily gives the user PsychicPowers, namely the power to MindRape someone (which G'Kar does to Londo after he gets his hands on some); it may technically be a drug, but the main characters treat it as [[SuperSerum a munition]]. As for stims, which aren't actually illegal, a major plot arc is Doctor Franklin's addiction and recovery. The trope is also averted in that coffee is still in use, albeit hard to get for logistics reasons, and several characters are alcoholics. One early plot also involves a dispute over a plant that the Narn use as religious incense but the Centauri use as a recreational drug.
* On ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' obviously there's no problem with drinking, although nicotine seems to have become obsolete. The only drug left seems to be 'Flash', which is used as eye drops.
* In ''Series/UFO1970'', the characters smoke in computer rooms, medical areas, and closed environments like SHADO's underground headquarters, submarines and the Moonbase. Some scenes look like they've been filmed through a minor fog.

* Somewhat justified the ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' games, where the future world government is run a repressive MegaCorp that, while it doesn't care about worker safety, also probably wouldn't even allow things like cigarette breaks.

* In the ''[[Videogame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series, the Prohibition apparently never ended; Space Fuel (also known as Argon Whiskey) is illegal in known space, as is Teladi Space Weed (except in Teladi sectors). However, Space Fuel seems to be legally manufactured by some Argon stations, as the police ignore them ([[TheLopsidedArmOfTheLaw even as they blow up yours]]). Amusingly, ''carrying'' Space Fuel in the cargo bay is illegal everywhere, so you can park a ship outside of a Space Fuel Distillery and scan the cargo of every cargo ship leaving the station, and then attack them for violating the law.
** Spirits are made legal in ''Videogame/XRebirth'', set several decades after the end of the main series, but carrying them without a license will get you shot up by the police.
* Trading in narcotics is a surefire way to get a criminal record in all installments of the ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'' franchise; only planets that are explicitly in a state of total anarchy allow you to buy and sell them the old-fashioned way. Some planets also ban alcoholic beverages as well, usually for religious reasons.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheLydianOption'', "Janta Leaf" is portrayed as a mild drug being smuggled by the protagonist - humans view it as a minor offense, but the Tha'Latta punish it with permanent imprisonment.

* In ''Webcomic/QuantumVibe'' Nicole once gets arrested when some Lunar cops plant a drug known as "cheez"[[note]]in modern parlance, heroin and methamphetamine[[/note]] on her. She comes from the much more libertarian L5 station and had no idea what they were talking about until a lawyer explained it.
* The far-future world of ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'' has an ongoing drug war, and although the details aren't clear, a CowboyCop brags about the fact that she allowed herself to be [[FirstLawOfGenderBending irreversibly]] [[GenderBender turned from a man into a woman]] to arrest a dealer.

* Like everything else in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', this is PlayedStraight or {{Averted}} as RuleOfFunny demands. Recreational marijuana remains illegal in (New) New York State even though [[HighTimesFuture crack cocaine is readily available in vending machines]].
-->'''Bender:''' ... We're gonna fight to legalize it right here!
-->'''Hermes:''' Yah, mon! You've got to legalize it!
-->'''Amy:''' We're talking about {{robosexual}} [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything marriage]].
-->'''Hermes:''' [[EruditeStoner We're talking about lots of stuff]].

* ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd''. In Mega-City One, coffee and sugar are illegal, since they are not only addictive, but their status as physical stimulants is a big problem in a place where the vast majority of people live an existence of total, idle luxury -- they could get even more out of control than they already do. Synthetics are used instead, but synthi-coffee was too good and became considered addictive, so it was outlawed. Hence, people drink synthi-synthi-coffe.

* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'': In the Jovian Republic opiates, cocaine, any of the various drugs in the setting that use nanotech, and tobacco are illegal. Though alcohol and cannabis are allowed. In less conservative polities, that is to say, the rest of the solar system, drug laws vary a great deal.

* In the 1970-1 series ''Series/{{UFO}}'' the characters smoke in computer rooms, medical areas, and closed environments like SHADO's underground headquarters, submarines and the Moonbase. Some scenes look like they've been filmed through a minor fog.

* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' plays this one: it's immediately obvious that 14-year-old Toru is doing wrong every time he's smoking or drinking at the Cyberia. There are stronger drugs, such as Accela, a type of "[[{{Nanomachines}} nanomachine]] amphetamine", is very obviously illegal, gives you instant CaffeineBulletTime, and makes users homicidal and/or suicidal.