LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

The following is an excerpt from an article in the August/September issue of Southern Brew News, a circular aimed at beer enthusiasts living in the Southeastern U.S. This article is not available online, I'm afraid.

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A North Carolina grassroots organization has been trying to change a law [that] prevents beers with more than 6% alcohol from being sold in the state. This group goes by the name of Pop the Cap...

In July, as House Bill 392 (the Pop the Cap bill) was making its way to the Senate floor, something potentially disastrous happened... Senator [Jim] Jacumin (Burke and Caldwell Counties) made his point known quickly. He felt that North Carolina should not allow high alcohol beers into the state because it would cause a "loosening of sexual inhibitions, more pregnancies and more abortions." Jacumin also feared for the health of his "black brothers and sisters" when he took his stand against high alcohol malt liquors. Jacumin wasn't informed of the fact that when Georgia's abv beer law passed, only 3 more malt liquors above 6% became available (more than 300 new beers that weren't malt liquor became available at the same time)...

[Senator John] Kerr, who has been a firm supporter of NC wineries in the past, is for some reason staunchly against the [bill]... Kerr has been quoted in the Daily Reflector (a Greenville, North Carolina paper) as having been approached by religious groups, asking him to slow the bill down.
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Here in Georgia, higher-alcohol brews have been available for more than a year now. Most of these are craft beers, and many are imported from Europe. Initially some ignorant people were excited about buying beer that would get them drunker faster... until they saw the price tag. Let me tell you, a $10 bottle of Belgian Trappist ale is not something you chug at a frat house or the ball game. (You're not even supposed to drink it out of the bottle; in Belgium, each type of beer is served in its own special glass.)

Oh, and I don't think the high-priced "high-gravs" have increased our unwanted pregnancy or abortion rates, either. Interestingly, such things are not as much of a problem in Belgium and Holland, where many of these beers are brewed. I wonder why?

EDIT: "On Saturday, August 13, 2005 Governor Mike Easley signed House Bill 392 (a.k.a. the "Pop The Cap" bill) into law." The theocrats lost this one, but I still think it's instructive to review their efforts in this case.