Regulators crack down on cigarette and liquor internet sales in Utah

Modern Brewery Age, Jan 17, 2000

AP--A recent sting by the Utah Attorney General's Office revealed that the Internet provides an easy way for minors in Utah to illegally get cigarettes. Authorities also suspect the Internet provides a back door to buying alcoholic beverages in violation of state laws. Utah lawmakers are now proposing measures to lock that door.

Rep. Carl Saunders, R-Ogden, is sponsoring separate bills to extend the state's liquor limits to the Internet.

Saunders is not yet sure if there is a way to give law enforcement the tools needed to enforce the laws.

Utah is not alone in trying to uphold its laws in cyberspace.

"It's been a hot item," said Bob Frohling of the National Conference of State Legislatures. He said that about a dozen states began tinkering with their laws last year to control alcoholic-beverage sales. Lawmakers in a few, such as Connecticut and Arizona, have passed such laws.

But, Frohling said, most states don't have the money to enforce such laws.

"You can have all the laws you want, but if you don't have the staff to enforce them, you're banging at the wind," he said.

The federal government also may step in. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has a bill that would allow each state to enforce its alcoholic-beverage laws, even over the Internet. Opponents contend the bill might ruin California's small wineries.

Steve Jones, head of the communications department at the University of Illinois-Chicago, predicts that it will ultimately be impossible to control morals on the Internet "We are better off dealing with these issues with education and reasoned discussion."