Hunter Whitehead Professor Dalton 11/12/13 Proposal Paper Utahs Liquor Laws I knew Utah had strange laws

when I moved here, but I never thought it would create such an inconvenience. Nine years before the prohibition was enacted in 1920, many cities in the state of Utah were already adopting their own anti-liquor laws. After the prohibition was repealed, in 1932 the state of Utah voted to re-enact the liquor laws but ultimately failed. In result, the legislators in Utah continued to pass laws that would regulate the buying and selling of alcohol. Utah has developed several distinct laws over the years that ultimately only make an inconvenience for its residents and visitors such as; patrons must order food at a restaurant in order to be served an alcoholic beverage; you may only have one drink at your table at a time; grocery stores and other stores that operate under a beer only license may only sell beer that is 3.2 percent alcohol in weight (4 percent in volume); if you want to purchase beer that is above 3.2 percent or any hard alcoholic beverage you must go to one of the state run liquor stores. Utahs liquor laws stifle economic development and create an inconvenience that has no positive effect on society.

The state of Utah is filled with many conservative citizens that are part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The LDS church doesnt believe in the consumption of alcoholic beverages and in result has promoted legislation that has made it more difficult to consume and buy alcohol. It seems as if the LDS church dictating to the legislature clearly violates the separation between church and state. The LDS church should have its tax-exempt status removed for this. Furthermore if the majority of the state doesnt drink then why does the state implement laws that dont pertain to the mass of the people? Shouldnt Utah focus on matters that would better society as a whole? Utahs extreme alcohol laws have a major effect on the restaurant business. For example: you are not aloud to go to your favorite restaurant and just get a cold one with your friends. You must purchase something to eat (even if you dont want it) in order to be severed an alcoholic beverage. This detracts many of the restaurants customers. Second off, the state requires that all wine, hard alcohol, and beer above 3.2% must come through the state liquor stores in order for the restaurant and bars to serve them. This causes the state to apply additional taxes on the alcohol, thus making it a more expensive process for the owners. This sounds like robbery! Another law that restricts the flourishment of restaurants and bars in Utah is its dearth of licenses it rewards, which are solely based on population. Steven

Maxwell spent $1 million building a dining club in Salt Lake City, Maxwells East Coast Eatery. Then Mr. Maxwell, who has other clubs in the state, could not get a dining club license. So the strongest thing he sells with his food is beer that is 3.2 percent alcohol by weight. Now I dont know if I can recoup that money, Mr. Maxwell said. Why would I continue to invest in Utah if theyre not helping you, if theyre hurting you? Additionally, Utah has recently banned all drink specials. Business has slowed down, complained Bridget Gordon, the owner of the Green Pig Pub in downtown Salt Lake City, which used to draw customers with $2 drafts on Mondays, $2 coronas on Fridays and $2 Bloody Marys on Sundays. Now you cant do that. You have to do an everyday price, and thats it. Lastly, stiff drinks and doubles are illegal in Utah. Bars and restaurants must use meters on their liquor bottles to make sure they dont poor more than 1.5 ounces at a time. This just seems timely for both the server and the customer because if they want to get drunk they will certainly just continue to buy more shots. The state of Utah requires all liquor, wine, and beer above 3.2 percent to be sold solely at state run liquor stores. Legislators believe that this will decrease the amount of alcohol sold and it will essentially decrease the numbers DUIS and other negative alcohol occurrences. Despite, in reality it does the opposite. Since it is an inconvenience for people to go to the liquor stores, they tend to buy in bulk. When they buy in bulk they have more alcohol available to them, which allows them to

drink more! Another issue with the state run alcohol stores is that most of them close at 6p.m. This results in people rushing to the liquor stores in order to make it in time before the stores close. With this, it causes many people to speed and leads to more car accidents. Limiting the maximum allowed alcohol in beer to 3.2 percent at gas stations, grocery stores, and other convenience stores creates problems. College students and other party animals main intent when theyre drinking is too get drunk. With the alcohol content in the beer being so low, they result in drinking more hard alcohol. Hard alcohol is evidently more dangerous and unpredictable. This causes more alcohol related deaths, accidents, and addiction problems. Additionally, the low alcohol levels in the beer may cause people to buy more beer in order to justify for the reduced alcohol content. Again, ensuing the people of Utah to do the opposite of what the legislators created the law for. I feel it is important to address Utahs extrinsic alcohol laws. How do we let the LDS church isolate our states laws from the rest of the countrys? If we continue to let the legislators dictate our laws the next thing youll know is they might start restricting things like coffee. First, we need to eradicate the states law on the maximum alcohol content sold at gas stations, grocery stores, and other establishments. This will decrease the number of binge drinkers and alcoholics around the state by giving them less stressful and easier access to normal beer and

alcohol. If beer is above 3.2 percent then college students will certainly buy it over hard alcohol and it will decrease the amount of problems. Also, this will help local stores sells and production and will help them stay in business. Next, we will simply abolish the law that enforces customers to buy food with their alcoholic beverages at restaurants. This will essentially help restaurants flourish. It will also help the state attract more tourism with its similar laws and new demand for alcohol selling restaurants. Furthermore, the abolishment of this laws will allow people to be able to go to a more friendly environment to have a drink; opposed to before when they were required to go to a bar. We will next eliminate the total number of alcohol licenses allowed in the state of Utah. This will allow for more businesses to open up and invest into the state, making it more appealing to visitors. The nightlife in the cities will therefore increase immensely, causing the state to attract a variety of new people. It will also open up job opportunism for the unemployed, getting people off of welfare, and ultimately benefiting the society as a whole. Overtime, Utah has developed the most conservative alcohol laws in the entire country. There distinct laws reflect views of the strongly influential LDS church. The states purpose of these laws is to regulate the buying and selling of alcohol and preventing negative alcohol occurrences. Although, in reality, the laws have only stifled the economic development of restaurants and other stores.

Furthermore, it has created a major inconvenience for residents in Utah and may aid to more harm than it does good. I believe that if we eliminate Utahs unnecessary liquor laws then the city will flourish economically, tourists will become more attracted to the state, and alcohol problems will decrease. The fact of the matter is if people want to buy or sell alcohol, there isnt a law that will deter them away from doing so.

Works Cited Cooper, Micahel. "Utahs Liquor Laws - Relaxed, but Still Peculiar - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20liquor.html?_r=0>. Corbett, Bill. "Utahs Strange Drinking and Dining Laws." Marathon Mouth. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. <http://marathonmouth.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/utahsstrange-drinking-and-dining-laws/>. Rabiner, Stephanine. "Utah Liquor Laws Makes Life Hard for Business." Free Enterprise. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. <http://blogs.findlaw.com/free_enterprise/2011/07/utah-liquor-laws-makes-lifehard-for-business.html>. "Utah State Liquor Laws | Utah.com." Utah Travel Site | Utah.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. <http://www.utah.com/visitor/state_facts/liquor_laws.htm>. Webb, Gaylen. "Utah Business." Utah Business. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. <http://www.utahbusiness.com/articles/view/utah_s_alcohol_problem/?pg=3>.

In result, the majority of Utahans dont drink alcohol beverages. So, then why do legislators promote laws that make it harder to purchase and sell alcohol when most of their citizens dont even drink? It seems as if this is only making a burden on the outliers in the state who already drink. Yet, they believe that if they make it harder for people to buy alcohol in Utah that will result in

So, then why do legislators promote laws that make it harder to purchase and sell alcohol when most of their citizens dont even drink? It seems as if this is only making a burden on the outliers in the state who already drink.