From The Federalist:

The individual state and local government control over spirits in the last 85 years has yielded some of the most absurd, lasting laws on the books in this country. The R Street Institute report highlights a dozen of these debilitating alcohol-related laws that show how reckless and harmful some state regulations truly are. Myriad of these ridiculous laws still have champions claiming health and safety benefits for closely guarding an industry the promotes the use of an intoxicating substance.

History has surely shown that, as long as alcohol exists, some people will abuse it, whether or not it is legal. Totalitarian state control of spirits only benefits cronies.

One of the most egregious examples from the R Street report is that Virginia’s Alcohol Beverage Control Authority acts as the middle man instead of the usual distributor in sales of hard liquor. This means that if you visit a craft distiller of whiskey and buy a bottle to take home, the distiller sends every penny of that sale to the state government and receives only 46 percent of the total sale amount back.

Featured Publications