Alcohol laws of Maryland
Coordinates: 38°37′19″N 76°20′34″W / 38.622047°N 76.342818°W
Alcohol laws of Maryland are unique in that they vary considerably by county, due to the wide latitude of home rule granted to Maryland counties.
State laws
Underage possession and consumption
It is illegal under state law[1] for a person under the age of 21 to possess or consume an alcoholic beverage, but the law contains several exceptions:
- Underage individuals who are employees of businesses that hold a valid state-issued liquor license may possess (but not consume) alcohol in the course of their job during regular business hours. Common examples are serving alcoholic drinks to customers of a restaurant, making deliveries for a catering company, and stocking shelves at a store that sells alcohol.
- Alcohol may be possessed or consumed by an underage person in a private residence so long as it is furnished or allowed by a member of that person's immediate family (typically a parent).
- Alcohol may be consumed as part of a religious ceremony, such as the Roman Catholic or Episcopal Communion rite.
It is also a separate offense for an underage person to misrepresent their age for purposes of obtaining alcohol,[2] and to merely possess any sort of card or document that falsely identifies the person's age.[3] An underage person who illegally possesses alcohol or false identification is subject to a citation rather than arrest, and the event is considered a civil offense, meaning that it does not count as a criminal conviction and cannot result in imprisonment in and of itself.[4] This is because the reason for the drinking age in the first place is that the law does not consider individuals under 21 to be responsible enough to consume alcohol unsupervised, and therefore holding them fully criminally responsible would be paradoxical.
Furnishing alcohol to underage persons
Except for the exceptions provided in the previous section, Maryland's law also makes it illegal for anyone to purchase alcohol for someone under 21,[5] or to give it to them. Both these laws require that the defendant knew the person was under 21, and that they purchased or furnished it for the purpose of that underage person consuming it. In addition, it is also illegal for an adult who owns or leases property, and lives at that property, to knowingly and willfully allow anyone under 21 to consume alcohol there, unless they are members of the same immediate family. This law does not necessarily make homeowners criminally responsible for any illegal drinking at their residence, unless they were both aware of it and intentionally allowed it to happen.[6]
Taxation
In July 2011, Maryland's taxation of alcohol was increased for the first time since the 1970s, from 6 percent to 9 percent.[7] This taxation is applied at the consumer level, appearing as a line-item on the customer's receipt.[7]
County laws
| County | Alcoholic beverage control county | Alcohol sale hours | Grocery Store Sales | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beer | Wine | Spirits | On-premises | Off-premises | Beer | Wine | Spirits | ||
| Allegany County | No | Unknown | No | ||||||
| Anne Arundel County | No | Unknown | No | ||||||
| Baltimore City | No | 6am-2am (6am-1am for taverns) | 6am-12am (Mon-Sat) | No | No Sunday sales, except for those Sundays between Thanksgiving and New Years upon issuance of special license. | ||||
| Baltimore County | No | 6am-2am (6am-1am for Class D beer/wine licenses) | 6am-12am (Mon-Sat) | No | No off-premises Sunday sales, except for the Sunday preceding Christmas Day and the Sunday preceding New Year's Eve, between 7am-9pm.[8] | ||||
| Calvert County | No | Unknown | No | ||||||
| Caroline County | No | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Carroll County | No | Monday - Saturday 8AM-11PM; Sunday 11AM-8PM | No | No retail off-premise store may be larger than 10,000 square feet. | |||||
| Cecil County | No | 6am-2am Mon-Sat, 10am-11pm Sun | 6am-2am Mon-Sat, 8am-11pm Sun | Rarely | Only one liquor license per store/corporation | ||||
| Charles County | No | Unknown | No | ||||||
| Dorchester County | No | Unknown | No | ||||||
| Frederick County | No | 6am-2am Mon-Sat, 11am-2am Sun[10] | No | An off-premises license may not be issued to any franchised establishment.[10] | |||||
| Garrett County | No | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Harford County | No | 8 a.m.- 2 a.m. | No | ||||||
| Howard County | No | Unknown | No | ||||||
| Kent County | No | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Montgomery County | Yes | Unknown | Spirits stores: Monday to Thursdays 10:00am to 9:00pm Friday & Saturday 10:00am to 10:00pm Sundays (See Notes). Beer and wine stores: 10:00am to 1:00 am | No (five grocery stores grandfathered;[11] see note) | The Department of Liquor Control operates its liquor dispensaries on Sundays from Noon (12:00pm) to 6:00pm.[12] | ||||
| Prince George's County | No | Unknown | Beer & Wine (each corporation may sell beer and wine at only one location) | ||||||
| Queen Anne's County | No | Unknown | No | ||||||
| Saint Mary's County | No | Yes | All yes | ||||||
| Somerset County | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Talbot County | No | Unknown | Yes | ||||||
| Washington County | No | Unknown | No | ||||||
| Wicomico County | Yes | Unknown | Yes | ||||||
| Worcester County | Yes | Unknown | Yes | ||||||
Note: Five Montgomery County grocery chains — Giant Food, Safeway, Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, Magruder's, and 7-Eleven — received an exception from the state law that bans grocery stores from selling beer and wine under a grandfather clause.[13] These five are allowed to have one location that sells beer and wine in Montgomery County: Giant’s New Hampshire Avenue store in Silver Spring, Safeway in Olney, Shoppers in Germantown, Magruder's in Gaithersburg, and 7-Eleven's store on Georgia Avenue in Aspen Hill.[13] These licenses can be transferred to any of the chain’s other locations in Montgomery County subject to approval by the county Board of License Commissioners.[13]
See also
References
- ↑ "Criminal Code § 10-114. "Underage possession"". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ↑ "Criminal Code § 10-113. "Misrepresentation of age."". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ↑ "Criminal Code § 10-115. "False documentation"". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ↑ "Criminal Code § 10-119. "Citation"". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ↑ "Criminal Code § 10-116. "Obtaining for underage consumption"". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ↑ "Criminal Code § 10-117. "Furnishing for or allowing underage consumption"". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Aaron, Nathans (9 July 2011), "Del. package stores hope to benefit from Md. tax", The News Journal (New Castle, Delaware), archived from the original on 11 July 2011
- ↑ "Liquor Board Rules and Regulations". Baltimore County Board of Liquor License Commissioners. 19 September 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ↑ "Liquor Board Rules and Regulations". Carroll County Board of Liquor License Commissioners. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 http://frederickcountymd.gov/documents/39/2009Regs.PDF
- ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control. 2008-07-11. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- ↑ Montgomery County Expands Sunday Sales to Liquor Stores
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Kristi Tousignant. "Briggs Chaney Will Lose Beer and Wine Sales at Grocery". The Gazette. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
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