The Attorney General Says Near-Beer Is Still Beer
Ruling on a Lewis County saloon closes the loophole that let 'temperance' drinks flow in dry towns: if it has any alcohol in it and you drink it, Olympia says it's liquor.
Olympia, March 21. — "Near-beer" is barred from Washington. In an opinion to the prosecuting attorney of Lewis county the attorney general ruled as follows:
"Replying to yours of the 14th inst., in regard to the sale of 'near-beer' at Pe Ell, will say that under the term 'intoxicating liquor,' as defined in the local option act, if the liquor contains any percentage of alcohol and is used as a beverage, it is intoxicating liquor within the meaning of the act, and is prohibited from sale in the territory that has voted 'dry,' and any person attempting to sell the same, or any common carrier delivering the same within the dry unit for the purpose of sale or at a place of public resort is guilty under the law. The statute is so plain that it seems to me there is no chance for any other construction."
“The statute is so plain that it seems to me there is no chance for any other construction.”
Washington voted itself dry statewide in 1916, four years ahead of national Prohibition, and before that the fight was waged town by town under local option — which meant the definition of 'intoxicating' decided who stayed in business. Today's arguments over cannabis, hemp-derived THC drinks and kratom follow the same script: draw the line tightly enough and an entire market vanishes. Newport, sitting on the Idaho line, was right in the middle of that wet-dry patchwork.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.