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The 21st Amendment and its Importance Today

The failed experiment of Prohibition led to the creation of a viable and safe system of beverage distribution.
In the mid 1800's, a call for temperance in consumption of alcohol began in major cities and spread to the remote frontier communities of the American West. Initially, this movement was rooted in fervent religious beliefs. It was later adapted and promoted by various schools of social and economic thought that considered the hand of government an appropriate and efficient means of improving social order. In the midst of World War I, these political forces effectively used the national emergency to promote the complete elimination of licensed beverages. Congress and the states responded by enacting the 18th Amendment and the National Prohibition Act.

Prohibition created an illegal underground industry, and the crime rate soon skyrocketed as previously legal social activity was criminalized. As a result, organized crime quickly moved to fill the gaps left by the elimination of a legal industry. While Prohibition did not end alcohol consumption, it dramatically changed the conditions under which alcohol was sold and consumed and led to widespread corruption at all levels of government.

The 21st Amendment is the cornerstone of responsible alcohol distribution.
It was clear following the failed experiment of Prohibition, that America needed a system to ensure the orderly, safe, and legal distribution and sale of licensed beverages.

The 21st Amendment grants states primary authority to regulate and distribute licensed beverages within their borders and supports the basic distribution system of the American beer industry. This system, known as the three-tier system, provides "checks and balances" in the way that licensed beverages are distributed and sold to consumers. The brewers, the first tier, sell malt beverages to distributors or wholesalers, the middle tier, who then sell to properly licensed retailers, the third tier. This system was designed to prevent illegal trafficking, tax evasion, and market manipulation.

The three-tier system encourages moderation and safety.
Today's system was established by federal and state regulators to ensure independent retailers, to encourage moderate and lawful consumption through regulation of sales practices, to ensure excise tax revenue collection, and to permit states to establish their own sets of rules and regulations for the sale of licensed beverages within their respective borders.

For more than 70 years, this system has served consumers and states well. Unfortunately, a handful of individuals are attempting to circumvent this system in favor of uncontrolled shipments to consumers.

The three-tier system ensures efficient and effective tax collection and helps prevent illegal sales to minors.
Brewers and wholesalers are responsible for ensuring federal, state, and local excise taxes are paid. The beer industry generates more than $30 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues nationwide. Uncontrolled shipment to consumers threatens collection of this revenue.

Uncontrolled shipping of licensed beverages provides minors with easy access to alcohol, and any teen or college student with access to a computer and a credit card can order alcohol and have it delivered to their home or dorm. In 2000, brewers and wholesalers worked together on legislation to provide states with the tools needed to help prevent this activity, and to protect the three-tier system. The result was passage of the 21st Amendment Enforcement Act.

Polling shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans (77%) oppose allowing beer, liquor, and wine to be sold directly to consumers over the Internet.

Congress should ensure that the 21st Amendment remains strong, take no action to weaken the U.S. Constitution, and make certain that states retain the authority to control the distribution of licensed beverages within their borders.