Maine Liquor License offers ruling on lemonade

    AUGUSTA — Maine Liquor License has ruled that Fentimans Lemonade is imitation liquor and can only be sold to anyone 21 years or older.
    The product came under scrutiny when a student at Houlton High School purchased the drink and brought it to school, not realizing it contained trace amounts of alcohol.
    Maine law defines imitation liquor as “any product containing less than 1/2 of 1 percent alcohol by volume which seeks to imitate by appearance, taste and smell liquor or which is designed to carry the impression to the purchaser that the beverage has an alcohol content. ‘Imitation liquor’ includes, but is not limited to, products bearing the brand names ‘Near Beer,’ ‘Brew’ or ‘Champaigne-0.”
    “We are pleased with the ruling” remarked Melissa Boyd, Coordinator of the Maine Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse, “we want to be clear that alcohol in any form should not be consumed by children”
    According to Guy Cousins, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, “Prevention is critical in addressing the issues of substance abuse in Maine communities. This ruling upholds our belief that prevention is an integral part of our work.”
    The Maine Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse (MAPSA) is a statewide grassroots network created in 1999 to provide an advocacy voice for substance abuse prevention in Maine.  MAPSA represents service providers, agencies, coalitions and others who have an interest in and a commitment to substance abuse prevention.  To learn more about MASAP please call 207-621-8118 or visit us at www.masap.org.