If you are a newcomer to Oregon and yearn for booze, you learn quickly that you can only buy hard liquor in state liquor stores.

If you are a newcomer to Oregon, you also learn quickly that Oregonians can’t pump their own gas in many parts of the state. (It’s a wonder the state lets people plug in their own electric cars!)

Surveys from the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center seem to indicate Oregonians are ready for change — where they can buy liquor and in pumping gas. Polls done in January showed more than 50% of Oregonians support both policy changes.

The restrictions on pumping your own gas already have begun eroding. It’s OK to pump your own in much of Eastern Oregon. Right now Oregonians can do it because of the heat — until Tuesday evening. We think Oregonians can handle it full time. If you don’t want to pump your own gas, we understand. In other states, full-service stations often cater to that desire.

A permanent shift in the rules for booze may soon be coming to a ballot near you. Two possible ballot measures led in part by Lauren Johnson of Newport Market in Bend aim for change. In one, grocers could sell local spirits. In the second, hard liquor just would be for sale at the grocer. It’s not clear if the Northwest Grocery Association, which is backing both efforts, will actually focus on one or the other for the 2022 ballot.

A private system with state oversight works OK for pot sales. Grocery stores manage to sell beer and wine just fine. We are sure they could do the same with hard liquor.

There are many questions, though. What happens to the people who have invested in state-controlled liquor stores? Their business model would be in big trouble. And will small producers of craft liquors be better off in this new system or worse?

The bigger worry for some is what happens if it becomes more convenient to get hard liquor. Would problems with addiction and substance abuse rise? Maybe. But if people want booze now, though, they will manage to get it. And we don’t see a tidal wave of people in states with more freedom to buy liquor calling to add more restrictions to where liquor can be sold.

There’s going to be interest in figuring out what it might do to prices, as well. But until we know for certain what will be on the ballot, it’s hard to know what it might do. It’s also hard to know if this just will be another in a series of similar measures that never became law.