New Texas Laws Impacting Beer, Cough Medicine And Cigarette Sales Take Effect Sunday
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - New laws taking effect Sunday could change the way you shop for beer, cold medicine or cigarettes.
"We are finally free of the chains that prohibited us from selling beer to go," said Brad Mall, owner of Oak Highlands Brewery in Dallas' Lake Highlands neighborhood.
Near the bar, he's kept a fridge labelled "beer to go" wrapped in chains and padlocked for years.
"It was just my political statement to say that this is silly," explains owner Brad Mall.
Breweries like his that produce beer sold in grocery stores, bars and restaurants have been barred by Texas law from selling their own product directly to customers wanting to take it home.
"You can walk into a winery and buy wine to go. You can walk into a distillery and buy distilled spirits to go," he said, "but you couldn't buy into a production brewery and buy beer to go."
The brewery will celebrate the change in the law this Sunday by breaking the lock on the fridge.
"And we will sell beer to go for the first time in Texas history!" he said.
Breweries will now become the only place in Texas where consumers can pick up beer before noon. They'll be allowed to start selling at 10:00 in the morning that day.
Mall says, instead of relying on the limited beers the brewery sells elsewhere, customers will also now be able to come in and shop from a brewer's full range of offerings.
In contrast to the changes at local breweries, employees at the Texas Star Pharmacy in Plano are locking away some of their products.
A new law forbids selling dextromethorphan to anyone under the age of 18.
It's the active ingredient in almost all well-known over the counter cough suppressants. One exception you won't find it in is cough drops.
A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found just over 3% of high school seniors in 2017 had used the drug to get high.
Starting Sunday, adults wanting to treat a cough shouldn't forget their IDs.
"We'll be carding everyone who buys it," said Kari Lechlitner, the pharmacy's manager of operations.
Tobacco and vape shops will also be adjusting to new age restrictions.
A new law will change the legal smoking age to 21. Exceptions exist for active duty military and anyone who has turned 18 by this Saturday.
Jimmy Odeh at the One Stop Smoke Shop in Richardson plans to change the "18 & up" sign on his door.
"We'll just scrape that part off and replace it with a '21' sticker," he said.
He'll also be training employees on the implications of the law, which applies to cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and tobacco products. Odeh says he expects an impact on business, but not a big one.
"The younger people, they're not the higher ticket purchasers, so if it's a few dollars here or there, if it's for the greater good, it's for the best," he said.