Alcohol Updates
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 5:17 PM

(1) Alcohol controls have been significantly tightened in Aboriginal areas of Australia in recent months, as the loyal Vice Squad reader knows. In some places, the amounts of alcohol that can be stored at home are limited. But even stricter rules went into effect today in an Aboriginal region in the Australian northeast. Here's a brief excerpt from this Scotsman.com article: "Under the new restrictions, people can carry only one carton, or 24 cans, of light to mid-strength beer and two litres (4.23 pints) of wine in their cars on each journey, and are forbidden from stockpiling alcohol at home."

(2) Arizona has officially adopted a law changing the hour of its "last call for alcohol.". In a few months time, bars and restaurants will be able to serve alcohol until 2AM, with patrons allowed to continue imbibing until 2:30. The old time limits were 1AM for sales and 1:15 for consumption. Vice Squad has previously examined some of the reasoning behind the change.

(3) OK, this one is not an update, in that Vice Squad hasn't mentioned it before. More than 100 students at Ball State University were arrested at the beginning of this month during a crackdown on underage drinking. (For one raid on a fraternity house party, the town (Muncie, Indiana) mayor joined the raiding party.) Now their court dates are upon us, and many of the students are contesting the charges. One student who pleaded not guilty indicated (in the linked article) that she was afraid a conviction would prevent her from getting a job as a teacher after graduation. While Vice Squad has not mentioned the Ball State contretemps in the past, I have lamented the unreasonably high drinking age in the US, and in February noted a similar development at the University of South Dakota.

Labels: alcohol, Australia, closing hours, teens