Should States Get Out of the Booze Business?

Stateline: Pennsylvanians love to complain about their state’s tangled system for alcohol sales. Consumers can’t buy wine at grocery stores and have to go to a state-run store if they want to purchase that or hard liquor. Bars and restaurants are the only outlets authorized to sell six-packs of beer, while beer-specific stores, licensed to sell only by the case or the keg, are the go-to source for variety and volume.

Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania House voted to privatize wholesale and retail liquor sales, bringing the state closer than it’s ever been to overhauling a system put in place just after Prohibition. But changing a state’s alcohol sales system is never simple.

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