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The alcohol laws of Missouri are among the least restrictive and most lax and permissive in the United States. Missouri is known throughout the Midwest for its largely laissez-faire approach to alcohol regulation, in sharp contrast to the very strict alcohol laws of some of its neighbors, like Kansas and Oklahoma. ==History of Missouri alcohol laws== Nicknamed the "Show Me State" for Missourians' well-known "stalwart, conservative, noncredulous" attitude toward regulation in general,〔(Missouri Secretary of State - State Archives - Origin of "Show Me" slogan )〕 this tendency always has been readily visible with regard to the state's alcohol laws. Missouri's laissez-faire approach to alcohol regulation also stems from its position as the leading alcohol-producing state in America, well known for wine production in the Missouri Rhineland and for beer production in St. Louis by Anheuser-Busch, which produces Budweiser. Anheuser-Busch is the principal advocate of keeping Missouri's alcohol laws as lax as they are.〔"Anheuser ends opposition to .08 in Missouri," ''Modern Brewery Age'', January 22, 2001〕 But these laws have generally always been this way. During the height of the temperance movement in the late-19th century and early-20th century before nationwide prohibition, Missouri never implemented its own statewide prohibition.〔(Kenneth H. Winn, "It All Adds Up: Reform and the Erosion of Representative Government in Missouri, 1900-2000," ) published by the Missouri Secretary of State〕 Actually, the voters of Missouri ''rejected'' prohibition in three separate initiative elections in 1910,〔 1912, and 1918.〔Ira M. Wasserman, "Prohibition and Ethno-Cultural Conflict: the Missouri Prohibition Referendum of 1918," ''Social Science Quarterly'', Volume 70, pp. 886-901.〕 When temperance crusader Carrie A. Nation entered a bar in Kansas City in April 1901 and began to smash liquor bottles with her hatchet, she was promptly arrested and fined $500 ($12,926 in 2010 dollars〔(The Inflation Calculator )〕), which her judge stayed as long as she agreed to leave Missouri and never return.〔("Mrs. Nation Barred from Kansas City," ''The New York Times'' (April 16, 1901) )〕 The Missouri General Assembly did ratify the 18th Amendment in 1919, but only after it already had received enough previous ratifications to become part of the Constitution. During Prohibition, political boss Tom Pendergast ensured that the national prohibition law would not affect Kansas City's liquor industry and saloons.〔(Allan May, "The History of the Kansas City Family," ''Crime Magazine'', October 10, 2002 )〕 Kansas City's federal prosecutor, who was on Pendergast's payroll, never brought a single felony prosecution under the Volstead Act.〔(Ken Burns, "Kansas City, a Wide Open Town," from ''Jazz'', PBS, 1997 )〕 Effectively, thanks to Pendergast, prohibition did not affect Kansas City. This atmosphere led the editor of the ''Omaha World-Herald'' to remark, "If you want to see some sin, forget about Paris. Go to Kansas City."〔 An 1857 Missouri statute left all liquor regulation to localities, including the question whether to go dry, except the collection of licensing fees.〔"Anti-saloonists win: St. Louis must close her saloons on Sunday", ''The New York Times'', May 8, 1888〕 As a result, despite the lack of statewide prohibition, by the end of nationwide prohibition in 1934 half of Missouri's counties had gone dry. Immediately, though, Missouri enacted its first Liquor Control Law, which repealed and superseded those local laws.〔(11 CSR § 70-1.010(1) (Missouri Secretary of State - Code of State Regulations) )〕〔(Annotations to Mo. Rev. Stat § 311.010 )〕 This was the first time Missouri had any statewide control of liquor.〔"For Missouri Prohibition; Senate Passes Resolution Submitting Constitutional Amendment to People", ''The New York Times'', May 6, 1909〕 Today, Missouri has no dry jurisdictions whatsoever. Before state alcohol regulation began in 1934, many Missouri cities, including both St. Louis and Kansas City, had banned Sunday liquor sales.〔"Kansas City Lid Padlocked: Not a Saloon Opened on Sunday Either on the Missouri or Kansas Side", ''The New York Times'', July 2, 1906〕 Missouri's original 1934 Liquor Control Law prohibited Sunday sales of beverages with more than 5% alcohol by volume (not coincidentally the same amount of alcohol in Budweiser), but this restriction was lifted entirely in 1975.〔Missouri Attorney General's Opinion 39-77〕 For 2013, the annual "Freedom in the 50 States" study prepared by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranked Missouri third in the nation in alcohol freedom, noting Missouri's "alcohol regime is one of the least restrictive in the United States, with no blue laws and taxes well below average."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alcohol laws of Missouri」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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