Source: AL.com
By Special to AL.com
January 18, 2013
A reported
plan to introduce legislation that would privatize the Alcohol Beverage Control
stores in Alabama fails to consider several important
facts.
Legislators are to be commended for their desire to cut spending
on the state level, especially during these difficult economic times, but
cutting time-tested controls on alcohol use and abuse may end up costing the
state more money, not less. After the repeal of Prohibition, states were given
the authority to regulate, control and limit the flow of alcoholic beverages due
to the mind-altering and addictive nature of the drug.
Alabama's
leaders at the time wisely decided to establish the Alcohol Beverage Control
Board in order to implement such regulations for the benefit and safety of
Alabama's citizens.
The most
significant result of the ABC Board's work has been that Alabama ranks 48th in
per capita consumption of alcohol per adult, and first in total revenue per
gallon sold according to published reports from the Distilled Spirits Council of
the United States. As citizens of Alabama do not drink as much, the agency
receives more revenue per gallon of spirits sold. In this and several similar
reports, control states (as opposed to licensure, or privatized, states)
consistently rank highest in revenues and lowest in consumption among the 50
United States.
Alcohol is
not an ordinary commodity; it is the number one abused drug in the
nation.
On
average, consumption rates in control states are 14 percent less for spirits and
7 percent less for all alcohol products than privatized states. ["The Effects of
Privatization of Alcohol Control Systems," William Kerr, PhD, Alcohol Research
Group for the National Alcohol Beverage Control
Association]
Other
factors to consider include the following: In non-control states with privatized
alcohol sales:
. There is
an increase in outlet density. Even if the proposed law limited outlet density,
there would be an annual battle in the state Legislature with attempts to expand
those outlet limitations. "Big Alcohol" would be continually pushing for fewer
restrictions and seeking to get legislators elected who would sympathize with
their position.
. There
are increased hours of sale. ABC stores have fixed hours of operation and are
staffed by well-trained employees. Once liquor sales are controlled by private
retailers, you can expect them to remain open for longer hours. However,
according to a published report in the December 2010 issue of the American
Journal of Preventive Medicine, longer hours of liquor sales results in an
increase in motor vehicle crashes, as well as other related harmful
results.
. There is
an increase in advertising and promotion. Studies have shown that youth are
especially susceptible to alcohol ads. According to the American Academy of
Family Physicians, "the degree of youth alcohol advertising exposure is strongly
and directly associated with intentions to drink, age of drinking onset,
prevalence of drinking and the amount consumed." ["Alcohol Advertising and
Youth," ©2012, www.aafp.org, American Academy of Family
Physicians]
. Studies
have consistently concluded that a state-controlled alcohol distribution system
such as the system Alabama has in place reduces the harms associated with
alcohol abuse by promoting responsible distribution and consumption of
alcohol.
Some
legislators have argued that Alabama "needs to get out of the liquor business."
What the citizens of Alabama need to understand is that the state is not in the
liquor business, but it is in the alcohol beverage control
business.
Alcohol is
not an ordinary commodity; it is the number one abused drug in the nation.
Controlling an addictive drug, as alcohol is, has economic and social benefits
that far outweigh any perceived financial savings that may or may not come to
the state.
Joe
Godfrey is executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program.
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