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Alcohol laws of Maryland vary considerably by county, due to the wide latitude of home rule granted to Maryland counties.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2009) |
Alcohol laws of Maryland vary considerably by county, due to the wide latitude of home rule granted to Maryland counties.
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:
It is a separate offense for an underage person to misrepresent age for the purpose of obtaining alcohol, [2] or to 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; therefore holding them fully criminally responsible would be paradoxical.
Except for the specific exempt circumstances provided in Maryland law, it is also illegal for anyone to purchase alcohol for someone under 21, [5] or to give it to them. Maryland alcohol laws require that the defendant knew the person was under 21, and purchased or furnished alcohol for that underage person to consume. 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]
A person must be at least 21 years old to be employed to serve alcoholic beverages or sell alcoholic beverages, although some counties have different laws. A person must be at least 18 years old to work in another capacity at an establishment that serves alcohol.
State law prohibits open containers with any amount of alcohol within the passenger area of a motor vehicle. [7] Passengers of a vehicle are similarly prohibited from consuming alcohol in the passenger area, but the law provides exceptions for non-drivers in the back of hired vehicles such as taxis, limousines, and buses, as well as in the living areas of motor homes. The driver is also shielded from prosecution if it is based solely on another occupant of the vehicle having an open container. [7] This law only considers certain parts of a vehicle to be the "passenger area," and excludes locked glove compartment, trunks, and the area behind the rear-most seats if the vehicle has no trunk (such as those commonly found in vans and SUVs). [8] Like underage possession above, violation of the open container law is a civil offense. [9]
In July 2011, Maryland's taxation of alcohol was increased for the first time since the 1970s, from 6 percent to 9 percent. [10] The tax is applied at the consumer level, appearing as a line-item on the customer's receipt. [10]
| County | Alcoholic beverage control county | Alcohol sale hours | Grocery Store Sales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beer | Wine | Spirits | On-premises | Off-premises | Beer | Wine | Spirits | |
| Allegany County | No | 24hrs at Rocky Gap Casino Only [lower-alpha 1] | 7 a.m. – 2 a.m., Monday – Saturday. 11 a.m. – 12 a.m. Sunday. | No | ||||
| Anne Arundel County | No | 6 a.m. - 2 a.m. | No | |||||
| Baltimore City | No | 6 a.m. – 2 a.m. [lower-alpha 2] [lower-alpha 3] | 6 a.m. – 12 a.m. (Monday – Saturday) [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5] | No | ||||
| Baltimore County | No | 6 a.m. – 2 a.m. [lower-alpha 6] | 6 a.m. – 12 a.m. Monday – Saturday. [lower-alpha 7] | No | ||||
| Calvert County | No | Follows state law. | No | |||||
| Caroline County | No | Unknown | Yes | |||||
| Carroll County | No | 8 a.m. – 11 p.m. Monday – Saturday 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. Sunday. [lower-alpha 8] | No | |||||
| Cecil County | No | 6 a.m. – 2 a.m. Monday – Saturday. 10 a.m. – 11 p.m. Sunday. [lower-alpha 9] | 6 a.m. – 2 a.m. Monday – Saturday. 8 a.m. – 11 p.m. Sunday. [lower-alpha 9] | Rarely | ||||
| Charles County | No | Unknown | No | |||||
| Dorchester County | No | Unknown | No | |||||
| Frederick County | No | 6 a.m. – 2 a.m. Monday – Saturday. 11 a.m. – 2 a.m. Sunday. [14] [lower-alpha 10] | No | |||||
| 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: 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Monday – Thursday. 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sundays: see notes. [lower-alpha 11] Beer and wine stores: 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m. | No (some grandfathered in) [16] [lower-alpha 12] | ||||
| Prince George's County | No | Retail: 6 a.m. – 2 a.m., except Sunday. Bars: 6 a.m. – 2 a.m. [lower-alpha 13] | Beer and wine. [lower-alpha 14] | |||||
| Queen Anne's County | No | Unknown | No | |||||
| Saint Mary's County | No | 6 a.m. - 2 a.m., including Sundays | 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 | |||||
Prior to 1973, the minimum age to buy or possess alcoholic beverages was 21 years old. In 1973, the minimum age was decreased to 18 years old in Montgomery County and Prince George's County. In 1974, the minimum age was decreased to 18 years old for the entire state. In 1982, [18] the minimum age was increased to 21 years old but with a grandfather clause which allowed those who had already turned 18 (born June 30, 1964 or earlier) to consume beer and wine. [19] [20]
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