Pennsylvania
Related: About this forum'To-go' liquor proposal might get another shot
A key House lawmaker on state liquor policy is cautiously optimistic that this could be the year consumers could purchase liquor to-go at stores outside the state-controlled system.
It's been a goal of some governors and lawmakers going back to at least the early 1980s, but for decades proponents have come up short.
We made some great strides forward the past few years, so I'm hoping the momentum is there to keep going, said Rep. Adam Harris, R-Juniata County, the chairman of the House Liquor Control Committee.
Harris' committee is scheduled to take up two proposals Monday to allow private retailers to sell hard liquor. The vote is an early step in the legislative process, and the proposals could get a serious look this spring as lawmakers look for options to balance the budget.
Read more: http://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/12133320-74/to-go-liquor-proposal-might-get-another-shot
Rhiannon12866
(205,891 posts)Has everything come down to the almighty dollar? And at the same time, there's a desperate need for drug and alcohol treatment which states are overwhelmed trying to meet.
TexasTowelie
(112,384 posts)Beef or chicken fajitas, guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo with a nice warm flour tortilla. However, there really isn't such a thing as chicken skirt so calling it a chicken fajita is a lie.
My friendly liquor store is about one mile away from here, but at least I get some exercise riding my bike to get there and back. They are also the only people in town that accept my rolled up change so they serve the dual function acting as my banker. Fortunately, I kept my drinking in moderation with a buzz rather than getting plastered drunk. The few occasions that I let get out of hand I paid severely enough the next day that it never developed into an addiction. I also made certain that if I was going to have more than a couple of drinks that I didn't drive.
The alcohol and drug addiction problems are devastating though. I've seen too many friends of mine who are nice people when sober become belligerent jerks after getting hammered. Seeing young girls that are still teenagers with the needle marks and slit wrists from heroin and cocaine addiction then the subsequent suicidal symptoms is also disturbing.
Rhiannon12866
(205,891 posts)We don't have any in my neck of the woods, so even one would be an improvement.
As for drugs and alcohol, in the eight and a half years I've been in the program, I've seen so many lives torn apart, "jails, institutions and death," as they say. And these are folks who made an effort to get help. Drugs have become much more prevalent, but it seems to always start and end with alcohol.
I have to go to another wake tomorrow. I've known quite a few people who have died. This wake is for the mother of a girl I know, but the last time I went to the same place, it was for a lady who died from only alcohol. She just couldn't stop.
I realize most people can drink with no problem. They can have a glass of wine on New Year's and not think about it until the next year. But the rate of alcohol and drug abuse is growing so fast that treatment - because we know incarceration is no solution - needs to be a priority.
FakeNoose
(32,726 posts)... but I think the LCB is trying to save jobs.
A lot of people will lose their jobs if/when the State Stores close down.
The union has been fighting this tooth & nail, and it's been a slow erosion over the years.
We all know it's eventually going to happen though, don't we?
I'm hoping that enough new jobs will be created in the private retail sector (retail liquor/wine stores) so that the State Store employees will find new jobs. But there's no guarantee of that, and the union is worried.
Rhiannon12866
(205,891 posts)That has to be their priority. But in rural communities, there are more useful amenities than liquor stores. Rural folks could use closer access to groceries and pharmacies. That's one reason that Wal-Mart and the Dollar stores have been so successful. There's an ongoing controversy in my neck-of-the-woods. A woman has been fighting a Dollar store going in next door to her which will dwarf the size of her home, the proposed store is so large that they're going to have to build it sideways on the lot, not to mention the traffic. But the latest story said she lost her battle and she's moving. The sad thing is that all her neighbors lined up against her.