(Wine Searcher) - The country's largest liquor wholesalers signal their support for national marijuana sales

The use of the three-tier system is deeply embedded in the American drinks, regulatory and sales culture. Implemented at the Repeal of Prohibition, in 1933, the three-tier system has long given each state the right to enforce the sale of controlled substances – including wine – as they deem appropriate. The system was engineered and still functions with an eye to no one sector having undue control over the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Its fairness, functionality and cost for its citizens have been at the heart of almost every legal battle relative to wine sales over the past 85 years. Almost a century after wine was legalized, as the American market moves towards allowing the use of recreational marijuana – and with 21 states currently on board according to the Los Angeles-based ProCon.org, an educational non-profit – distributors of alcoholic beverages see themselves in an ideal position to jump on the weed distribution wagon.