Commentary: North Carolina’s Liquor Price Floor Is the Wrong Prescription for a Broken System

Author: Joyce Sullivan

Date: Monday, August 17, 2026

It’s time to modernize our state’s ABC liquor laws.  We need more choices, more convenience, a modern wholesale delivery system and a better system of governance.

The state cannot credibly invoke public-health concerns while stores operating within its controlled system are telling consumers to hurry, shop and compete for access to liquor.

The North Carolina ABC Commission says minimum floor pricing for liquor is about public health. But before state officials impose another government price control, they should confront a basic contradiction: local ABC boards are actively using social media, raffles and scarcity-driven promotions to encourage consumers to buy specialty spirits.

Last week, the Southport ABC Store promoted “Truck Day” on Facebook and alerted followers that specialty bottles had arrived. The Albemarle ABC Board advertised a “Purchase Raffle” with banners warning customers it was their “Last Chance.”

The Wingate ABC Store promoted an “Allocation Raffle.” Albemarle’s promotion even urged shoppers to purchase products, enter repeatedly and improve their chances to win the opportunity to buy a coveted bottle.

That is marketing built on urgency, excitement and scarcity. The state cannot credibly invoke public-health concerns while stores operating within its controlled system are telling consumers to hurry, shop and compete for access to liquor.

If public health is the guiding principle, the standard should be coherent across the system—not cited selectively when officials want to raise prices.

The policy’s health claim also deserves humility. Benjamin Griffith of New Waters Recovery and Detox told CBS 17, “I don’t know if I would go as far as saying raising the cost of bottom shelf liquor at the ABC Store would drastically curb recidivism surrounding the need for treatment and repeat treatment.” That practical perspective matters. Addiction is complex; a higher shelf price is not a treatment plan, and the State ABC Commission should not oversell it as one.

Minimum pricing also establishes a troubling precedent. Once government decides that a legal product is “too inexpensive,” the floor can be adjusted, expanded or applied elsewhere. North Carolina already sets uniform retail liquor prices and layers freight, fees, markups and taxes into every bottle. A new mandated minimum would add another policy lever while insulating the state-controlled system from normal price competition.

The consequences will not stop at ABC-store counters. Restaurants, bars and hotels purchase spirits to serve customers, and the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association warns that many members are already operating on razor-thin margins. They would have to absorb higher costs or pass them along to guests.

Free Our Spirits NC supports responsible consumption and serious, evidence-based public-health policy. But minimum floor pricing is a blunt instrument wrapped in mixed messaging. The Commission should first end promotional practices that undermine its stated rationale, publish North Carolina-specific evidence, and fully account for the burden on hospitality workers and small businesses. Until then, it should reject this very bad idea.

Call to Action

Free Our Spirits NC encourages you to send your comments about this policy proposal to the State ABC Commission email:  Contact@abc.nc.gov

Free Our Spirits NC | www.freeourspiritsnc.com

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