There was a short period of time in our country’s history where alcohol was actually illegal. Pubs closed down and restaurants quit serving and supposedly this “Prohibition” should have ended alcoholism for good.
Not so. Home brews continued to be made and the sales just became illegal and an entire network of people made tons of money off of the sales. Eventually, the government decided it wasn’t such a good idea after all, and they repealed it. No doubt many people other than the rum-runners drank to that.
Here in Utah, the state government has been in control of the alcohol consumption since 1935, two years after the repeal. The state has had a monopoly over the wholesaleing and retailing of the alcohol beverage system. The age limit is the same as most of the rest of the United States: 21, but there are also laws about the percentage of alcohol that can be served here or there and nothing can be served after 1 a.m.
Other states have been control states too, but the question keeps coming up as to whether it might be time to privatize the liquor sales, or not.
In the first week of June, 2011, Governor Gary Herbert was questioned about it and he said that it could change. He mentioned that State Representative Ryan Wilcox, who is a Republican from District 7, has proposed making the alcohol control system private. "And I expect that will be a discussion upcoming if he presents that legislation," Herbert said. "I have not seen it. I don't know what the pros and cons of that will be.
The state-controlled liquor stores have served us pretty well for many generations. I am not afraid of the discussion and let's see what happens."
Non-committal so far. Governor Herbert expects that there will be opinions on both sides of the issue. That’s likely, since in every state, whenever any discussion arises that has to do with either promoting or curtailing liquor, proponents and opponents come out of the woodwork to let their heartfelt opinions be known.
Liquor is probably not going to go away, since it didn’t even vanish during Prohibition. The question is going to be whether it is a plus for Utah for it to be handled privately, or to remain publicly supervised.
