#alcohol-legislation

#alcohol-legislation

Stromstad police and the municipality have requested the closure of Systembolaget to keep inebriated Norwegians off the town's streets, reports Swedish public radio station P4 Vast.

"They start with something small, fun and aligned with your interests, but before you know it, you're betting on things you never thought you'd care about. It's dangerous."

Proposition 36, a state ballot measure, enacted harsher penalties for minor theft and drug offenses, with proponents pledging the crackdown would lead to mass treatment to keep people alive, out of jail, and off our streets. Case records, however, suggest the state is largely failing to meet the central goal of getting people help and instead conducting mass arrests and incarcerating more people with addiction.

Owners across the country report that fewer guests are ordering cocktails, and that missing bar revenue is squeezing margins that were already razor thin. The slowdown is hitting neighborhood joints and big casual-dining chains alike. Chefs and operators from New York to Los Angeles say alcohol sales, long the highest-margin part of the check, have slipped enough to force changes in hours, menus and staffing.

The status quo is not an option. We have to ban it here in Boston. Kratom refers to both a tree native to southeast Asia and products derived from its leaves. There is particular concern among officials and experts about 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, a potent compound found in kratom. In recent years, products that contain synthetically enhanced amounts of 7-OH have proliferated in smoke shops and convenience stores around the country.

The average Thanksgiving meal, Johnson warned on social media, was "roughly equal in metabolic injury" to smoking seven cigarettes. He tabulated the average calories, fat, carbs, sugar, and salt of the typical spread, all high. And he painted a picture of the damage the meal would do to one's body: "massive glucose spikes," "oxidative stress," "immune suppression," "sleep disruption," and "acute endothelial dysfunction."

In early February, Canadian researchers reported that rates of severe mental illness among young people have risen alongside increased access to high-potency cannabis (Callaghan, et al., 2022). Around the same time, a new book, A Killing in Cannabis (Kohn, 2024), revisited a 2019 California murder and highlighted how violence tied to the marijuana trade has persisted even after legalization. On February 9, 2024, an opinion piece from the New York Times editorial board

In 2025, legacy Oregon craft brewery Rogue Ales & Spirits filed for bankruptcy and shuttered operations, California uprooted 38,134 acres of wine grapes (in order to cope with overproduction and stymie future excess crops), and Jim Beam announced it would cease production of bourbon at its main distillery for the duration of 2026. An increasing push toward sobriety has flooded the market with nonalcoholic alternatives to traditional tipples.

Ontario and Nova Scotia have agreed to let their residents buy alcohol directly from the other's province, part of the premiers' ongoing work to bolster interprovincial trade. Producers of beer, wine and spirits can start applying Tuesday to the province's liquor corporation for authorizations to do the direct-to-consumer sales, a process the premiers say will only take a matter of days.