A Sober Situation of Legality

As the United States rumbles on into the next century I can't help but wonder on the future of long standing traditional laws that will be targeted for reversal. One long standing debate that continues to be beaten up is the legalization of intoxicating substances.. In layman's terms: The legalization of Pot, drugs, and home-distillation. The last one may or may not shock you, but indeed the home-distillation of alcohol is illegal to do in the United States. I won't comment on the other two, but on the third I think soon this piece of law will come under serious fire. Lets consider it..

Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Section 5176 I think) it prohibits the production of distilled spirits on certain premises (i.e. your home or garage). After looking around the Internet on why such a law exists I found basically two reasons or explanations.

1. The production of distilled spirits can and may produce methanol which is poisonous to humans if consumed.
2. Licensed Producers of distilled spirits pay a tax to produce alcohol and that money goes fund certain programs in congress (likely the general fund).

Basically that's the two primary reasons. So to produce hard liquor you need a license which the government issues on the promise that you will pay a tax on your selling of that substance (mind you this is different then the tax we pay to buy alcohol). Now these reasons for prohibiting home-brewers from distilling seems somewhat valid, but that's only if a home brewer is distilling and drinking his product or selling his product to other people. What if that home brewer wasn't doing either? What if that home brewer was distilling high proof alcohol into Ethanol to run in his E85 flex-fuel car? He wouldn't be consuming the potentially dangerous substance and he wouldn't be selling it either (because it was for personal use).

With gas prices fluctuating so often between $2.90 a gal & $3.50 (maybe $4) a gal people are looking for alternatives. One alternative is home brewing alcohol into ethanol, but that's illegal right now.. So perhaps it wouldn't take much to rephrase the law to allow for personal fuel refinement... Sounds good for us right? Not so easy.

Like all money/tax schemes. this law (if kept as is) gives ethanol producers a monopoly on the market. Makers of ethanol need a license that is issued by the government who could refuse to issue one to competitors (like us citizens). So if lawmakers (in this case) got campaign contributions from ethanol producers and then got elected, then had access to money from ethanol taxes, why on earth would they legalize home brewing? It would hurt their campaign sponsors and it would reduce the money in the general fund for stuff...

Now this law doesn't apply to bio-diesel which is why the alternative fuel campaign isn't pushing for that. I hope you smell a rat like I do. E85 products (cars) lines the pockets of auto-makers, ethanol makers, and congressmen... The government makes money from taxes which likely goes into the general fund which is what we fund the war in Iraq with. It is no doubt why they're pushing for E85!

Just another case of slippery backwards profiteering by those sworn to protect the rights of it's citizens which is why true supporters of alternative fuel should back bio-diesel (before that gets outlawed next! :)

~J out

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