I voted to keep our county dry!

Yeah, you can call me a hypocrite.  I voted for Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party.  So I actually voted "Weed-Yes, Booze-No"!

Brian

My entire *state* recently overturned a long history of 100% state controlled liquor stores.  Now supermarkets and other places can sell liquor.  I've seen no difference in behavior and little difference in prices.

*Edit: one interesting difference.  Under the old rules, we could have a drink poured at a bar but if you asked them to sell you a whole bottle, not allowed.  Always seemed weird.

Why?  On what grounds?  What data?  What lead you to that decision?

You are not a prude, but you just voted for more "crime" in my experience.  I have spent quite a bit of time in dry counties....and was amazed at the organization of the illegal booze trade....probably wasn't much different during prohibition.

Then again, after half a lifetime on the front lines of the "war on drugs" (a complete joke), I would advocate for the legalization of all drugs.

These type of laws for some reason really drive me crazy. In every state I've been to that had these kind of laws there was always some sort of loop hole. In MA, when I lived there, booze sales were banned on Sundays, except for some reason between Thanksgiving and New Years. In TX you either drive to another wet county, or sign some sort of "membership" license at the restaurant which magically makes it OK to serve you. In NM, sales were banned on Sundays, which meant you would buy 2x what you needed on Sat (and drank 1.9x more than you were supposed to on Sat) or you would find your local seedy liquor store (which used to have drive through service when I lived there) or an individual that would sell on Sundays to anyone ~15 or older (seriously).

My point is that, I fail to see what these laws accomplish as I've never been able to NOT drink, I simply had to drive further (something you probably should discourage when booze is involved), jump through some sort of magic hoop (really, because I am a club member at Chili's I can now drink beer?), or break the law simply because it's Sunday, just because someone thinks making it marginally harder to get alcohol is a valid method to prevent abuse.  

You don't say?!?

Here is a little thought experiment for you, if you think getting alcohol requires more effort means people will drink less. 

If you don't drink, it won't affect you, one way or another. If you do want to drink at home, it means you have to drive some distance to the nearest "wet county". Are you going to buy 1 bottle or several, having taken the time and effort to drive. Several, surely. Now, a basic tenet of human behavior is that when things are plentiful, they get used more. It's one reason that it is better to buy smaller bags of chips or repackage the big bags if you are trying to eat less. So people now have more booze at home, feel "flush" with it, and drink more.

Or - they can get it a bar/restaurant. So instead of drinking at home, where they can then go to bed by walking down the hall, they have to get home. Possible deciding to drive to do so. Putting people at risk. Since they can't easily get the booze at home, it is more likely they will drink when out and thus more likely to drive drunk.

Finally, people can still get beer and wine in the county? How is this making things "safer" than if only  harder adult beverages are harder to get? All you are doing is encouraging people to drink more beer and wine. And I don't see how an area is "dry" if you can still legally buy intoxicating beverages.

Just curious if this includes the $40B spent annually in the "War on Drugs"?

I hope that you don't consider yourself a political conservative.  This need to control OTHERS behavior through government is not a part of a real conservative agenda.

Gearboy and I both hail from the great liquor control state of Pennsylvania. 

We can only buy hard liquor and wine in state stores, or at a winery's own shop. 

Beer is only sold by the case at approved distributors. 

Grocery store beer sales are in the pilot phase. You can actually buy a six pack, but through a separate entrance, and cannot put it with your normal grocery shopping. 

With all this "control" PA still has drunk driving, underage drinking and alcohol abuse. 

Friends of mine are moving to Nebraska. You don't exactly think of Nebraska as a seething den of iniquity, yet they have the most relaxed liquor laws of any place these folks have lived. (Which is not just PA.) They were just in Nebraska for a weekend in advance of the move. He noticed this stark difference in scenarios: Getting a 24oz beer at a convenience store and taking it back to the motel made it far more likely that he would not get loaded, than if he were in town in PA for a weekend, and had only the option of buying a six pack or more. Then you feel stupid for wasting the beer and end up drinking it all. PA laws encourage mass consumption by requiring mass purchase. 

The only letters to the editor I see in PA that want to keep the system the way it is, come from the liquor store employee union, which makes sense.... and the association of beer distributors. 

Well heck yeah, if I owned a business that gave me a government-mandated monopoly and said that no other businesses like it could open up in my town since all the licenses were full, guaranteeing a lack of competition, I bet I'd be in favor of keeping things the way they are. 

It's amazing how people will respond like responsible adults when you treat them that way. State/county control of liquor sales are totally against that, and I agree with the sentiment that it's hardly a conservative way to go about things. 

Go Nebraska.  

I'm not a drinker so I'm fairly ignorant of laws around the country on this subject, but it kind of shocks me that states would have laws like you describe in PA.  I think the only restriction in Nebraska is they can't sell liquor or open liquor stores before noon on Sundays.  Every gas station has the beer cooler and every grocery store (walmart, etc...) have the big booze and beer section.  I kind of feel special now.  ;-)

Our state isn't dry, but considering where I came from (alcohol in grocery stores, gas stations, and mini marts...liquor sales start in the early AM and run until 3AM), it seems like it.

All alcohol (including beer, wine, etc.) is sold at liquour stores only. No sale on Sunday or after 9/10 p.m.. So, what do we do when we need beer for Sunday's game and we ran out? We just have to go visit the Sconnies, who sell it like normal folks.

we still have drunk driving. we still have alcohol-fueled crime. All it is is a big, fat, PITA. Like a lot of laws banning things...the people who are going to abuse or use it for ill purposes or irresponsibly (drugs, booze, breeds of dogs, whatever) are still going to do it. Laws like dry counties and such do more inconveniencing the folks who follow the laws anyway than they do stopping the criminals from being criminals.

Yes.

lol, probably the best argument I've ever heard for legalizing weed.

Shoot, Nebraska's got nothing on Missouri.  We have drive through liquor stores.  Some even sell mixed drinks.  Seriously, you can order up a margarita and hit the road without ever getting out of your vehicle.

sounds great, but like Abe Simpson, I will be in the deep, cold ground before I recognize Missoura.

That's not always true though.  There are incidences of weed causing paranoia leading to people shooting/stabbing each other.  Albeit fewer than the incidences of manslaughter from drunks (I haven't seen statistics on this, but I imagine over 90% of manslaughter incidences involve alcohol in some way).

If stoned drivers = old people driving, then come to Palm Beach County during the season (October to February) to see if you like reduced reaction and attentiveness...

There's a reason Florida leads the nation in cycling fatalities and it has blue hair.