You can legally drink alcohol while driving in Mississippi.

The story behind the answer

True—but with big caveats. Mississippi is the only U.S. state without a statewide open-container law for drivers, so an adult can legally have an alcoholic drink while driving if they are not impaired and remain under the DUI limit (0.08% BAC). However, many cities and counties enact their own open-container bans, and DUI laws still fully apply. So “legal” doesn’t mean “safe” or “everywhere.”

Remember it this way: Mississippi stands alone on open containers, but not on drunk driving. Federal policy encouraged states to ban open containers; nearly all did, leaving Mississippi the outlier. The key takeaway: a sip may be legal in some Mississippi jurisdictions, but impairment will still get you arrested—and local rules can make it illegal outright.