Liquor, lotto, pot. The foundations of a thriving, “healthy” and “equitable” Montgomery County economy and people are all around us in 2023. Oh, and did you know that the community center gyms are “free” now?
Ok, that was snark. But it isn’t far from the truth.
On January 27th, County Exec Elrich wants you to know that Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services (aka County Liquor Monopoly, Inc. established in the 1950s) will be putting lipstick on a government monopoly pig. Henceforth, the name of the ol’ County Liquor-and-Wine will be: Oak Barrel & Vine. It’ll have: handpicked items with a focus on spirits and local products. The upgraded store will have 25 percent more shelf space, a dedicated tasting area, queue lines for faster checkout and wayfinding signs for a more inviting shopping experience.
This is Washington Commanders-level re-branding by something that doesn’t belong as a “government” department.
The twenty-five percent more shelf-space take is interesting. More shelf space for more liquor so the County Liquor Monopoly, Inc. can make more sales on a product that NIH says can: weaken your immune system, making your body a much easier target for disease. Chronic drinkers are more liable to contract diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis than people who do not drink too much. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections – even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
This is in addition to all the organ-related damage that alcohol intake, but particularly liquor (being higher in direct ABV content) can enact.
County Exec Marc Elrich then praises the Montgomery County Liquor Monopoly, Inc. “ABS is an incredible County government service, having contributed more than $35 million of revenue last year alone to the taxpayers of Montgomery County and more than $306 million over the last 10 years, in addition to the health and safety benefits through safe alcohol distribution,” said County Executive Elrich.
So… ABS is an incredible government “service” because it sells more and more liquor, but there are “health and safety benefits” through its monopoly on alcohol distribution. He doesn’t mention any specifics, because there are no healthy and safety benefits from having this in the hands of the local government.
This is rank incoherence on display, or possibly just statist money-addiction laid bare. Montgomery County wanted a vaccine passport in 2021. For “public safety”. It now has a County Executive gloating about liquor sales and how there are “health and safety benefits” to a government monopoly on it. It wants residents to buy more liquor and wine from it in 2023, as evidenced by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on re-branding and renovating its retail stores.
This is just incoherence in public policy all the way around.
It is well past time for Montgomery County to get out of the liquor distribution and retail business and to stop the sanctimonious lecturing / policy on “public health” as well, particularly while it promotes and gleefully markets liquor and related products.
