FC: Institute for Justice sues over NY state alcohol laws

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34126,00.html

                       Wineries Offer Boos to NY Laws
                       by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

                       3:00 a.m. 5.Feb.2000 PST
                       WASHINGTON -- Beer and wine
                       distributors in New York state have long
                       enjoyed a pleasantly profitable monopoly:
                       Anyone who bypasses them goes to jail.

                       Advertising or shipping alcohol to Empire
                       State residents without going through a
                       liquor wholesaler is a crime, thanks to
                       those businesses' political clout and
                       impenitent bluenoses in the Albany
                       legislature.

                       Needless to say, this Prohibition-era
                       mentality isn't exactly a boon to
                       e-commerce, and out-of-state wineries
                       this week filed a federal lawsuit to try to
                       overturn New York's antiquated
                       anti-booze laws. (A typically antediluvian
                       example: One provision says police and
                       other officials can't "manufacture" their
                       own alcohol, something that could make
                       felons of socially upstanding but legally
                       naive home beer brewers.)

                       [...]

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