March 9, 1999
Web posted at: 11:44 p.m. EST (0444 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For years, underage drinkers have conjured up new ways to buy beer, wine and liquor.

Getting a fake ID and coaxing an adult to drive to the liquor store have been time-tested methods of skirting state drinking laws.

But that was before many underage drinkers discovered an easier and more direct way to buy alcohol: on the Internet.

A number of Web sites sell and ship alcoholic beverages to online buyers and require little more than a credit card and an address.

The buyer has to state or "click" that he or she is old enough to buy alcohol legally; then the order is shipped directly to a home, or college dorm.

"Because there is no way to determine age or identity ordering over the Internet, anyone regardless of age with access to a major credit card can order these products, " said Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-California).

States are looking to Congress for ways to enforce existing laws and collect alcohol beverage taxes from Internet sales.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings Tuesday on ways individual states administer the 21st Amendment, which allows them to regulate the sale of alcohol.

Such hearings have many in the alcohol industry concerned. In particular, many small wineries and microbreweries worry that limiting the direct sale of their products will put them out of business.

"Prohibiting direct transactions between producers and consumers only results in paralyzing competition and consumer choice," said Michael Ballard of California's Savannah-Chanel Vineyards.

Correspondent Skip Loescher contributed to this report.