In the early 1920s during prohibition, a vocal group of brewers and doctors fought for the right to prescribe and drink "medical beer." For just a few months in 1921, a pint could be prescribed to cure whatever ailed ya. From Smithsonian:
On March 3, 1921, shortly before his last day as attorney general, (A. Mitchell) Palmer issued an opinion declaring that the "beverage" clause of the 18th Amendment entitled doctors to prescribe beer at any time, under any circumstances and in any amount they saw fit. Wholesale druggists could take charge of selling beer. He also suggested that commercial drugstores could sell it from their soda fountains—though "never again beer over the saloon bar or in the hotel dining room."
But rather than settling the debate, Palmer's opinion set off a new round of court challenges, squabbles and questions. "Will the druggists become bartenders and the drug store a saloon?" the New York Times asked that November. "Will the doctors become beer dictators and be overwhelmed by those who are thirsty because they are sick, or merely sick with thirst?"
