Essay #2 Draft – What do Alaska’s Alcohol Local Option Laws do?
My interest in writing this essay stems from my past work as a court clerk in a “damp” community in Dillingham, Alaska, and as a rural shopper from a “wet” community, Anchorage, Alaska. As a court clerk, I accepted court cases for filing such as alcohol related crimes from communities that were “dry.” As a patron, along with many others, waited in long postal service lines in Anchorage to discover additional sender’s address and signature were needed before each mailing. Do you know the differences between a “wet, dry, or damp” community and what they mean in Alaska? Although alcohol consumption is legal across America, Alcohol Local Option Laws in Alaska create additional alcohol abuse crimes because they establish individual violations and penalties, they encourage smugglers and bootleggers, and they impose federal postal regulations.
Alcohol prohibition in America has its own history dating back from an era of 1920 to 1933. “Even before Prohibition made sale and importation of alcohol illegal throughout the United States in 1920, federal law proscribed selling liquor to Natives.” (Berman). In 1933, after the repeal of Prohibition, the Alaska Territorial Legislature was given the authority by the U.S. Congress to regulate the manufacturing and distribution of liquor. To enforce this authority given, the Alaska Territorial Legislature created the Board of Liquor Control. In 1937, under the Board of Liquor Control mandates, the first Local Option Law was established.
Today, under the State of Alaska through the Department of Public Safety the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) is the regulatory and quasi-judicial agency for control of manufacture, barter, possession, and sale of alcoholic beverage. The board maintains a list of communities http://www.dps.state.ak.us/ABC/docs/localopt.pdf that restrict alcohol sales, importation, and possession that the 1980 local option laws allow. The purposes of these laws are to assist with morbidity and mortality especially in the rural areas of Alaska both native and non-native alike. However, the native morbidity and mortality was expressed first. The Local Option Laws empower the local government or established village the opportunity to control alcohol in a manner that meets a traditional lifestyle and a majority preference by its residents.
The Alaska Local Option Laws are as follows:
- A ban on sale;
- A ban on sale, except by a type of licensee listed on the ballot and authorized in statute;
- A ban by sale, except by premises operated by a municipality;
- A ban on sale and importation; and
- A ban on sale, importation, and possession.
Across Alaska, and according to the current ABC Board list of 136 communities that have adopted one or more of the local option laws above, 19 chose a ban on sale, 5 community license only, 76 ban sale and importation, 33 ban possession, and 3 package store license only. If these laws are not upheld in each community, violations and penalties can be imposed on the offenders depending upon the statute. The state statutes vary by the type of violation, for example, how much liquor was smuggled or bootlegged, and how many times the offenses were made. The following crimes, fines and imprisonment time can be imposed:
- A Felony $250,000 0-20 years
- B Felony $100,000 0-10 years
- C Felony $50,000 0-5 year
- A Misdemeanor $10,000 0-1 year
- B Misdemeanor $2,000 0-90 days
- Violation $500 none
Smugglers and bootleggers take the high risk of being fined or imprisoned because it is a very lucrative business. The Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team know just how lucrative this business can be. A fifth of hard liquor can sell at $300 a bottle in a "dry" village after paying a mere price of $12 a bottle (D'Oro, Rachel. Anchorage Daily News. 7 January 2008. NewsBank). A "dry" community prohibits sale, importation and possession of alcohol. A "damp" community may allow sale, importation and/or possession in certain quantities. The "wet" community has liquor for sale in grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, bars and liquor stores. This wet community is where the smuggler generally makes purchase for resale, but it also happens out of the "damp" communities as well. The smuggler or bootlegger will use the postal system, commercial and private airlines, and hide their prize products in mysterious and strange ways to cover up their illegal activity.
As a common citizen from one of these bush communities, you can expect to complete an international customs declaration form declaring no alcohol or illegal mailing items are in the packages for these rural residences. A lot of rural residents shop heavily when in the urban communities such as Anchorage, Fairbanks or Juneau where bulk groceries can be bought for a reasonable bargain price. The declaration form http://www.usps.com/forms/_pdf/ps2976.pdf is actually designed for international mailings, but used for these specific governing communities who opted to control liquor under the Local Option Laws of Alaska. The postal inspection service already regulates http://pe.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm100/dmm100.pdf and restricts the mailing of alcoholic beverages domestically and internationally. It is simple not allowed. The postal inspection division handles all suspicious packages. If illegal activity is suspected these packages are tracked and given to the authorities at hand.
Are these crimes worth punishing in an America where consuming alcohol is legal? The local option laws say, yes. These laws are not new and have been around for many generations in Alaska and across our country in the past. Some communities say, yes too, and believe it is worth the fight to keep liquor under control, whether consuming, sale or possession is concerned because of the detriment alcohol has had and continues to have on many lives. The statistics are not clear or current enough to understand whether or not these laws are reducing crimes, morbidity and mortality. New studies are needed and should be conducted since they appear to be "ripe for research" like how these laws affect social behavior that encompasses, including an ability to rehabilitate, the overall realm the Local Option Laws create in Alaska and its effectiveness.
Berman, Matthew and Hull, Teresa. “Alcohol Control by Referendum in Northern Native Communities: the Alaska Local Option Law.” August 2000. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost.
<http://www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu/Publications/Alcohol_Arctic.pdf>
State of Alaska. Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs. Alcohol Beverage Control. 9 March 2009.
<http://www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/LOGON/offc/offc-alcohol.htm>
D’Oro, Rachel. “Authorities put the squeeze on alcohol smuggling in Bush Alaska – Officers fight a perpetual battle with bootleggers.” Anchorage Daily News. 7 January 2008. NewsBank. Access World News. <http://docs.newsbank.com/s/InfoWeb/aggdocs/AWNB/11E0D2C1B0C52B20/0D1A2B50CEF50DEA>
Halpin, James. “Bootleggers take law on river tide – Two men arrested: Troopers led on wild chase down the Kuskokwim.” Anchorage Daily News. 7 August 2008. NewsBank. Access World News.
<http://docs.newsbank.com/s/InfoWeb/aggdocs/AWNB/1226EDFD91102DE8/0D1A2B50CEF50DEA>
Chittenden, Stephan. “Alaska Alcohol: Bootleg Bounty?” 8 October 2008. BBC News. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7658579.stm>
United States Postal Service. “A Customer’s Guide to Mailing.” January 2009. 9 March 2009.
<http://pe.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm100/dmm100.pdf>
<http://www.usps.com/forms/_pdf/ps2976.pdf>
No comments:
Post a Comment