Vote Yes on 1

In Massachusetts, this November's election will feature a ballot initiative which would enable cities and towns to grant alcohol licenses to grocery stores that wish to sell wine. I am unequivocally in favor of this measure. To date, I have only heard three reasons why people should oppose this measure.

1. Drunk driving rates are lower in states prohibiting wine sales in grocery stores
Opponents to this initiative point to a statistics that drunk driving deaths per 100,000 people in Massachusetts are half what they are in the 37 states that allow wine sales in convenience stores. But this statistic merely reflects the fact that Massachusetts has one of the nation's lower drunk driving rates to begin with. Population density (and the resulting public transportation networks) is far more indicative of drunk driving rates than whether the state allows wine sales in grocery stores.

2. Grocery stores are somehow inherently less capable of enforcing minimum age laws
You hear the argument that liquor store clerks are better trained in enforcing these laws. But seriously, how hard can it be? If the patron appears remotely close to age 21, ask for a driver's license, look at the little birthdate, do the math and decide whether the year is before or after 1985, and if you're really suspicious, hold the license up to the light and look for the hologram. The state has made this determination ever easier to perform, since licenses of people under 21 are now printed vertically. Even if you don't trust your clerk to perform this rudimentary judgment call, you can require a birthdate to be typed into the register before the sale goes forward.

But wait, grocery stores in Massachusetts can already sell wine! The present regulation just limits the number of licenses one entity can hold to three. Therefore, the good folks at Stop & Shop, Shaw's, and Trader Joe's can sell wine already -- they just need to choose which three stores should offer such sales. Present practice proves that allowing wine sales in grocery store hasn't in fact caused every single person with a driver's license to be overcome by the irresistable urge to chug a bottle or two of Yellowtail Shiraz and immediately climb behind the wheel of a car for a little Grand Theft Auto-style pedestrian rampage.

3. Allowing grocery stores to sell wine will cut into the profits from the liquor store monopoly
Ah, there we have it.