\n\n“When New Mexico lawmakers make its owners choose between selling gas or selling liquor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some gas stations in a rural New Mexico county are being forced by an inane new law to choose between selling gas or selling liquor and wine<\/a>. Some have chosen to close their pumps<\/a> in protest and sell alcohol instead of gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new ban is part of a larger package of changes to the state’s liquor laws\u2014one its chief sponsor, Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D\u2013Albuquerque), calls<\/a> “the biggest reform of liquor laws in 60 years in our state.” The new law contains several key elements in addition to the gas station liquor ban. Many of those changes are steps in the right direction. In fact, the “original intention<\/a>” of the alcohol bill was deregulatory<\/a> in nature. Among other things, it lifts a ban on home delivery of alcohol, introduces a new, less expensive liquor license for restaurants, and allows alcohol to be sold longer hours on Sundays (on par with allowable sales hours on other days).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bad parts of the law are, well, bad. Ask the owners of Kokoman Fine Wines in Pojoaque, which was forced<\/a> to try to offload $65,000 worth of nip bottles\u2014those little liquor bottles commonly found lurking in a hotel mini-fridge\u2014after the new law banned their sale across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then there’s the ban on gas station sales in McKinley County, where three out of four county residents are<\/a> Native American. Sen. George Mu\u00f1oz (D\u2013Gallup), who introduced the gas-station amendment to the new law, says<\/a> he did so because “people die in McKinley County because of alcoholism.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n While I have no doubt that some people in McKinley County who abuse alcohol die from that abuse, compelling gas stations that sell alcohol to become alcohol stores that don’t sell gas probably won’t save many (or even any) lives, and may do just the opposite. The ban is also likely unconstitutional. That’s why one chain of gas stations has sued the state to overturn it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n