Where and when was the alcohol monopoly created?

Zbeckabee

The alcohol monopoly was created in the Swedish town of Falun in 1850, to prevent overconsumption and reduce the profit motive for sales of alcohol. It later went all over the country in 1905 when the Swedish parliament ordered all sales of vodka to be done via local alcohol monopolies. Following the prohibition of alcohol in Norway in 1919, the wine-producing nations demanded a reflexive policy regarding the goods exported from Norway, and Vinmonopolet was established in 1922, as a response to a deal with France, which allowed Norwegians to buy as much table wine of any kind as they wanted. When prohibition was lifted on fortified wine in 1923 and spirits in 1926, Vinmonopolet assumed sales of these goods as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_monopoly Jan 05 11, 7:56 PM

author

Yes. In 1766 the Swedish king, Adolf Frederick, decided, after several unsuccessful attempts at regulating alcohol consumption, to abolish all restrictions. This led to virtually every household making and selling alcohol. At the beginning of the 1800s, the Swedish people were drinking a lot of alcohol, from 175,000 distillers (most of them for household-production only), using tremendous amounts of grain and potatoes that otherwise would have been consumed as food, and it was later said that most men in Sweden abused alcohol. Women rarely drank alcohol, since it was considered inappropriate. In 1830, the first moderate drinking society was started in Stockholm. A few decades later, the first fully-fledged temperance organisation was formed. Private gain from selling alcohol was strongly criticised by these groups, and this opinion was embraced by doctors and members of the Church of Sweden. In 1850, alcohol began to be regulated by the state. In the city of Falun, a state organisation was created whose job it was to regulate all alcohol sales in the city and make sure it was being done responsibly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systembolaget#History Jan 06 11, 7:22 PM