Dedicated to Improving the Standards & Practices of Liquor Law Enforcement July 28, 2021 Vol. 27 If you have Alcohol Law Enforcement news to share please send it to Carrie Christofes, Executive Director at [email protected] VISIT OUR WEBSITE Registration Open! The 2021 Annual Conference, will be held November 15-17 in Montgomery, Alabama at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center, in collaboration with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) State Bureau of Investigation. Conference registration and hotel accommodations are now open! Watch Video NLLEA Awards The NLLEA Awards recognize leaders and outstanding programs in the field of alcohol law enforcement. Annual awards are given in the following four categories: Alcohol Law Enforcement Agency of the Year, Alcohol Law Enforcement Agent of the Year, Innovative Alcohol Law Enforcement Program of the Year, and the John W. Britt Community Service Award. For more information on each award, visit the awards page at nllea.org. You may self-nominate or you may nominate someone in your agency or another agency. Please fill out the form below for the appropriate category in which you wish to nominate yourself, your agency, another agent, or another agency. The deadline for receiving nominations is August 31, 2021. Please email this document along with any supporting documentation to [email protected] Link to Awards Nomination Form Get more involved in the NLLEA? The Board is accepting self-nominations for the Sergeant-at-Arms position, and will be holding elections at the annual board meeting at the conference in Montgomery, Alabama Nov. 15-17. The NLLEA’s Sergeant-at-Arms participates in NLLEA Board meetings, reviews workshop abstracts submitted for the Annual Conference, reviews nominations for the annual NLLEA Law Enforcement Awards and helps with NLLEA publications. The Sergeant-at-Arms position is a first- year position on the Board. In the subsequent four years, the Sergeant-at-Arms will serve as Secretary/Treasurer, Vice President, and President, before serving their final year as Immediate Past President. If you would like to declare your candidacy for the Sergeant-At-Arms position, please submit: A picture of yourself for the nominees’ bio email. A brief statement (no more than 500 words) detailing your background and qualifications, why you would like to hold this office, and your vision for the future for the NLLEA. Candidates for the Sergeant-at-Arms position should submit their information to [email protected] by August 31, 2021. VA-Editorial: As access to alcohol evolves, there’s an even greater need to balance business and public safety The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Authority has been at the forefront of navigating these pandemic-era adjustments. As access to alcohol evolves, there’s an even greater need to balance business and public safety. Roughly one week after the governor’s executive order, ABC made several tweaks to its “business practices” to meet the needs of customers and partners. The changes were sweeping. Establishments like restaurants or breweries that previously served alcohol on their premises were able to sell wine or beer in sealed containers for curbside pickup or for delivery. Third-party delivery services like UberEats, GrubHub, Postmates and DoorDash also were able to enter the market. “It’s changed a lot for enforcement,” ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement Chief Thomas Kirby told RTD Opinions in an interview earlier this month. Link to Article FL-Sales Clerk Arrested For Illegal Alcohol Sale On Thursday, July 22, 2021, deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office checked fifteen convenience stores in the Lakeland and Mulberry areas, as part of the Operation: Pop-Top effort. They were making sure stores were abiding State law by not selling alcohol to anyone under 21-years of age. Of those fifteen stores, one was not in compliance and the store clerk who made the illegal sale was arrested. 24-year old Nakia Guinyard of Mulberry was charged with Selling Alcohol to a Person Under 21, a misdemeanor. Link to Article AL-Two injured, charged with underage alcohol possession after Lake Martin boat crash Two people were injured and charged with underage alcohol possession after a boat crash on Lake Martin Saturday night, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. ALEA officials said the 20-year-old was charged with Boating Under the Influence and Minor in Possession of Alcoholic Beverages. The 19-year-old was charged with Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the fourth-degree and Minor in Possession of Alcoholic Beverages. ALEA officials said three people were on the boat at the time of the crash and that the incident is under investigation. Link to Article IA-Law Enforcement Check Sunday Of Bars In Arnolds Park For Underage Drinking Lands 21 People In Jail A bar check operation conducted Sunday by the Arnolds Park Police Department looking for persons under the age of 21 consuming alcohol resulted in the arrests of 21 people. A press release from the Arnolds Park Police Department says the charges include public intoxication, possession of alcohol under the legal age and misuse of a driver's license to acquire alcohol. Link to Article It’s Time to Allow Bourbon in Our Mailboxes While the pandemic has led to a wave of reforms that allow local restaurants, grocery stores, and alcohol producers to hand-deliver products to our homes, shipping beer or liquor in the mail remains nearly impossible. The United States Postal Service entirely forbids the shipment of alcohol through its channels, and barely a dozen states allow the mailing of liquor or beer. Unsurprisingly, consumers are becoming increasingly vocal about their support for alcohol shipping. The Distilled Spirits Council just released a survey indicating that 80 percent of Americans think distillers should be permitted to ship liquor to consumers’ doorsteps. Link to Article Is the alcohol industry placing profits before teens’ future prospects? In the first study of its kind in nearly two decades in the US, we combined existing survey and industry data to estimate how much alcohol underage youth drink and the revenues from these drinks that accrue to the industry. The survey data we used asked 1,000+ underage drinkers about 898 branded products. Rather than the usual “beer, wine, or spirits” estimates, these unique data allowed us to estimate market share at the company and product level. When combined with prices, we could estimate industry revenues from underage drinking. We found youth under the legal drinking age (21 years) drank 11.4 billion alcoholic drinks in 2016. The tab from this alcohol was also sizable at $17.5 billion, 7.4% of the revenues that year. Link to Article Washington Regulators Issue Position on Hemp-Derived Cannabinoids The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) has issued an interpretive statement regarding the conversion of hemp-derived CBD into delta-9 THC by licensed adult-use cannabis processors, according to the Cannabis Observer. The statement, which was drafted by WSLCB staff in consultation with council from the Washington State Attorney General’s office, hinges on the safe harbor doctrine, the legal term describing the practice of allowing for the production and distribution of a federally prohibited controlled substance (cannabis). The statement says under state law only licensed cannabis producers, or growers, are granted safe harbor for creating Delta-9 THC, not cannabis processors. “The statutes do not authorize a licensed processor to source hemp-based product, such as legal CBD, and convert it to delta-9 THC, regardless of the method of production, nor are they licensed to process hemp into marijuana concentrate,” the agency said in the statement. “As ‘conversion’ activity is not an identified privilege, it would not fall under the safe harbor protections.” Justin Nordhorn, director of policy and external affairs at the WSLCB, confirmed that processors are “not afforded safe harbor for the activities of creating delta-9-THC.” Link to Article Michigan to Regulate Delta-8 THC Products With New Legislation Starting in October, delta-8 THC products will be covered by Michigan law and regulated by the state's Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA). On July 13, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the legislation regulating the delta-8 derivate. The new legislation — which applies to products currently sold in convenience stores, gas stations and tobacco outlets — kicks in Oct. 11. Link to Article Q2 Beer Industry Review Recap The summer is in full swing and so are beer sales across the country! To find out where we stand halfway through the year, Fintech’s Director of Distributor Accounts, Jim Kallies, reviewed beer industry data with Lester Jones, Chief Economist with the National Beer Wholesalers Association, for our quarterly Beer Industry Review webinar. By exploring Fintech data, which represents the aggregation of beer, wine, and spirits data exchanged through over 700,000 connections between retailers to distributors and self- distributing suppliers in the United States, we found that so far in 2021, weekly case volumes covered by Fintech data are up 9% over the same time period in 2020 and are on track to pace (and maybe even beat) 2019 pre-pandemic volumes. This increase means that the sample of data used in our analysis is growing every day as more and more invoices are processed for payment through Fintech (not necessarily that the market as a whole is up 9%). For this quarter, we dug into second-quarter beer brand performance, the on- premise return to power, segment growth, and the largest story of Q2, seltzer’s continued growth and expansion. Link to Article Federal Bill Seeks To Protect Qualified Immunity For Cops To Prevent Frivolous Lawsuits “Our Law Enforcement Officers put their lives on the line every day at great personal risk.