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Local option regarding alcohol was first used in the Temperance Movement as a means to bring about Prohibition gradually. The Anti-Saloon League initially decided to use local option as the mechanism to bring about nation-wide prohibition. Its intent was to work across the country as the local level.

Following the Repeal of National Prohibition in 1933, some states chose to maintain prohibition within their own borders and some chose to permit local option on the controversial issue. In the remainder of states, there was no prohibition. Overlying this patchwork of prohibition, many states (known as Alcoholic Beverage Control States ) decided to establish their own Monopolies over the wholesaling and/or retailing of alcoholic beverages. One county in Maryland has used local option to establish its alcohol control monopoly within its borders.

There are several hundred "dry" Counties in states across the country.


SOURCE


Based on materials in
Alcohol: Problems and Solutions , which contains additional information.