Oh, But What About the Children???

I see the House used the "But what about the children!" fear-based mantra to defeat the Free the Hops bill. Had this bill passed it would have allowed premium/gourmet beer, which has a higher alcohol content than Alabama law allows, to be sold here.

Being a drug policy reformer I am intimately familiar with the ol' "What about the children!!?" ploy. It is maddening. I expect we will hear it again when the Compassionate Care Act comes to the floor for debate. Boy, I hope they turn me loose on the house floor during the debate. I'll quell the "What about the children" stampede before it even gets started.

Oh...and remember when the state legislature overrode Gov. Riley's veto on naming Conecuh Ridge Wiskey as the official state whiskey a few years back? These are many of the same people who just voted no on Free the Hops.

Saying Alabama citizens who are of age cannot have a premium beer because a kid might get some is like, as Mark Twain once said, "Telling me I can't have steak because a baby can't chew it."

Here is how they Voted