LOOSEN LIQUOR LAWS

The Ontario law that says you can't take your beer into the washroom
should be changed. It fact, it never should have existed.

It's a vestige of Ontario's traditional puritanical attitude about
alcohol. Heaven forbid anyone take a beer into the pub foyer while
they make a phone call, or take a bottle of wine on a picnic. Ontario
still has to shake the sense that alcohol is inherently shameful and
dangerous and should only be taken behind closed doors, under observation.

There are certainly reasons to forbid alcohol in some areas, to
license bars and to monitor consumption and behaviour. But the
current law goes beyond the bounds of common sense.

As so often happens with unnecessary laws, this one has an unintended
consequence. A woman who wants to protect herself from date-rape
drugs in her drink has few legal options if she's in a bar and needs
to use the washroom or make a phone call. She can leave the drink on
the table, perhaps hoping friends will be able to watch it. She can
finish the drink or throw it out. Or she can leave it unguarded and
take her chances.

Some women and men choose to take their drinks into the washroom with
them. It's not an appealing option, considering the state of many
washrooms in bars. In fact, it's a decision that could have health
consequences. But the trade-off might be a reasonable one for some
women in some circumstances. It's a choice they should be able to
make on their own.

There are other reasons why bars might not want drinks in washrooms:
They might not have enough staff to monitor the washroom floors for
spills or broken glass, for example. Businesses should be able to
post signs asking customers to keep their drinks in certain areas,
but that shouldn't be the law. And bars that do ask customers to
drink only in certain areas should put guarded drink tables outside
the washroom doors or behind the bars.

There are other things businesses can do to help women protect
themselves. They can install enough toilets to meet demand, so that
women don't spend too much time away from their drinks while they
wait in line. They can refrain from overcrowding their dance floors,
so that would-be rapists don't have chances to slip drugs into drinks
women are holding. Less crowding also makes it more likely that other
patrons will notice a drugged woman acting strangely.

The Ontario government is right to amend the liquor law. The proposed
change would allow washrooms and hallways to be licensed areas, and
allow people touring wineries to sample wine in the vineyards.

The change won't prevent all date-rape druggings; it's impossible to
know if it will prevent any. But it might. And it will remove some
pointless rules that only get in the way of law-abiding people.