Alcohol News: December 2005
Tax relief bill for Gulf Coast excludes the alcohol industry
Houston Chronicle, TX, December 15, 2005
From the man-bites-dog department: Big donors don't always get what they want from the politicians whose campaigns they help finance. Take the alcoholic beverage industry. . . .what did the Republican-controlled House do this week? It passed a $7.1 billion tax-relief bill aimed at revitalizing the hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast that specifically excluded liquor stores (as well as casinos, massage parlors, golf courses, racetracks and tanning salons). Dozens of social conservatives led by Rep. Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican, demanded the exclusions, saying in a letter to Republican leaders that providing breaks to such businesses would be "virtually impossible to defend" after cutting spending in sensitive areas like student loans and food stamps.
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More on alcohol industry influence on tax issues
California State Senators Campaign Contributions from Alcohol Industry 2003-2004
Program targets teenage drinkers. Prevention: Funding the plan would redirect the tax on beer to its original goal
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, December 16 , 2005
Twenty-two years after lawmakers imposed an excise tax on beer drinkers to raise money for prevention programs, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has devised a plan to actually spend the money that way. Money going into prevention and treatment programs since the tax was imposed has declined from 61 percent to 25 percent of the revenues. Although the rest of the money has gone into the general fund to pay for things lawmakers decide to direct it to, the control board is asking for funding to stop minors from getting hold of liquor that can damage their brains irreversibly. . . .The $2.1 million to reduce the number of teen drinkers would raise the percentage of the tax set aside for prevention, enforcement and treatment to 60 percent - nearly the same percentage the Legislature had designated it for in the first place.
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See what the NAS says about preventing underage drinking
Light up -- and get lit
Ledger Editorial, FL, December 16, 2005
It's bad enough that cigarette companies market their products to young adults -- and are often accused of targeting teenagers. Not content to do just that, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. decided to drag liquor into the mix by marketing cigarettes on coasters that promoted heavy drinking. The "Drinks on Us" campaign launched in November, when RJR began mailing six coasters to young people on their birthdays. Each coaster had a recipe for a cocktail, along with slogans that promoted drinking: "Layer it on, go 'til daybreak," and "Mix three shots together over ice, then make sure you're sitting" were two of them. Not long after the mailings started, the attorneys general in Maryland, New York and California called on RJR to stop the promotion.
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FACT SHEET: Marketing to Youth
Liquor store attacks underline some Muslims' dilemma
Argus Online, CA, December 13, 2005
Amin Nagi tried for years to reconcile his Islamic faith with owning a liquor store. . . .But for hundreds of other liquor store owners in Oakland's poorest neighborhoods, most of whom are Yemeni immigrants, the internal struggle goes on. The conflict gained nationwide attention after two West Oakland liquor stores - owned by immigrant Muslims - were vandalized last month by suspected Black Muslims who chided the stores' owners for selling alcohol to fellow Muslims. The attacks were caught on a store surveillance camera. It is "haram" - unlawful under the laws of Islam - to drink alcohol, but that has not prevented Muslim merchants from selling it. . . .There are more than 300 off-sale liquor outlets in Oakland. The majority are concentrated in low-income, mostly black neighborhoods of West, East and central Oakland. Since 1994, the state has limited new alcohol licenses in high-crime areas or neighborhoods that have too many liquor stores. But by then, Oakland already was oversaturated with corner markets.
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More on Oakland's approach to problem liquor stores
More on Local Alcohol Policy
Spending by alcohol companies on cable TV soars
Raw Story, MA, December 12, 2005
In a study released today, the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University found that alcohol companies significantly increased their advertising activity on cable television. More importantly, the number of cable network alcohol ads that were more likely to be seen by underage youth than adults on a per capita basis rose 97 percent from 2001 to 2004. CAMY, which is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, conducted an analysis of more than one million television ads placed between 2001 and 2004 on broadcast, cable and local television and worth almost $3.5 billion. This analysis shows high levels of underage youth exposure to these ads despite the industry's self-regulation of its marketing and advertising practices and despite repeated public opinion poll findings that parents want their children exposed to less of this advertising.
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TALK BACK to BIG Alcohol
Harvard doc is good Buds with beer king
Boston Herald, MA, December 13, 2005
Hey, Dr. Meir Stampfer of Harvard - this Bud's for you! The renowned chairman of Harvard's epidemiology department has been moonlighting for Anheuser-Busch - traveling to events across the country touting the “health” benefits of swigging beer. ... Anheuser-Busch paid for Stampfer's recent travel expenses to New York and Chicago to discuss research with journalists, “but has not compensated him personally,” the company said in a statement yesterday. Anheuser-Busch has, however, donated $150,000 in “unrestricted” scholarships to students at the Harvard School of Public Health, the company said.
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See Anheuser-Busch Company Profile
Ads chide parents on youth alcohol use
Boston Globe, MA, December 11, 2005
When it comes to indulging, moneyed teenagers living in the affluent communities near California's wine country have little trouble getting what they want: designer clothes, the latest electronics, and the other accessories to trendy living. But officials are alarmed at the ease with which Marin County teenagers are getting beer and other alcoholic beverages. . . . In the past two decades, the Beer Institute says, the industry has spent $500 million to fight underage drinking, but alcohol-education activists express skepticism about the efforts. ''The alcohol industry has embraced this campaign because it's the parents who get the blame," said Laurie Lieber, a spokeswoman for the Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog based in Marin County.
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Youth Perspective: It's Easy for Kids to Get Alcohol and Other Drugs
More colleges are turning off tap for booze advertising
Miami Herald, FL, December 12, 2005
Some Florida universities are taking aim at student binge drinking by restricting alcohol marketing on campus. In a bid to put a dent in the long-entrenched college tradition of drunken partying, universities are cracking down on campus alcohol marketing and advertising. 'Universities have finally got past the `bad apple' theory -- that it's just a few students,'' said Laurie Leiber, spokeswoman for the Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog group in California. ``They're trying to get away from an alcohol-saturated environment.''
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More on the Secondhand Effects of Alcohol Use
Action Alert: call on Congress to increase alcohol taxes
CSPInet.org, USA, December 9, 2005
The current fiscal debates in Congress and the prospect of a budget impasse may help open the door for consideration of an increase in the federal excise tax on alcoholic beverages. We hope you will help stimulate discussion and support for this option by asking your legislators to consider this untapped source of revenue. Congress last increased alcohol taxes during the budget reconciliation process in 1990. Since then, the alcoholic beverage industry has fought hard to avoid further increases, partly by pushing legislation to roll back alcohol taxes to their pre-1990 level. However, increases in taxes on beer, wine, and liquor are long-overdue, popular, and fair. Beer and wine taxes have been raised only once in the past 55 years, liquor taxes only twice.
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More on Alcohol Excise Taxes
Hypocrisy abounds in NCAA
Forbes, USA, December 7, 2005
The people who run college sports and the people who allow you to bet on them both have a lot to look forward to in the Rose Bowl. . . .With that in mind, the NCAA might be better off focusing its attention on another vice. This one is not only more troubling than sports betting, but is one the organization can do something about. Betting on sports may hurt a student's pocketbook, but alcohol can kill. While the NCAA stakes out a pious stand on sports betting, it looks the other way when it comes to beer companies helping line the pockets of its members. Despite calls by the American Medical Association and others to ban beer advertising on televised games, the NCAA has no problem allowing the ads to be targeted toward impressionable minds.
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Fans Fight Back!
Youth say drug, alcohol problem is major
Natchez Democrat, MS, December 5, 2005
This story is the third in a six-part series examining the drug and alcohol use of Miss-Lou teenagers. In a group of 10 Vidalia High School seniors, five said they have been the designated driver for a classmate who was too drunk. The group, three white males, one black male, two black females and four white females, was handpicked by the school counselor because she felt confident they didn’t do drugs but were knowledgeable and honest about the topic. The news they shared wasn’t uplifting or encouraging.. . .But the students said they didn’t know what the solution was. . . .“The majority of parents know. It’s not a big secret. It’s whether you care,” one girl said. “Parents could stop us if they wanted to,” another girl said. And most drug education in the schools isn’t effective either, they said. Videos on the consequences of drinking bore the kids who aren’t drinking and make the drinkers laugh, they said. Statistics don’t work because everyone says, “that’ll never happen to me.”
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Alcohol-related problems are a Community Responsibility
Some parents are taking action: Many frustrated that other adults let their kids get away with drinking
Desert Sun, CA, December 4, 2005
Parents can be the first line of defense against teen drinking. The only problem? Some parents don't look at their role that way. . . Amon Rappaport, director of communications for a community resource center near San Francisco called the Marin Institute, applauded their efforts to achieve a consistent approach to dealing with teen drinking. "Individual parents can't do it alone," he said. "If parents are (not) providing alcohol to minors, then teens will just go the next party."
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More on Alcohol Resources
Order Now! "Solutions to Community Alcohol Problems"
First Lady combats teen drinking
Casper Star Tribune, WY, December 4, 2005
Wyoming first lady Nancy Freudenthal said she received a "wake-up call" when she learned that children are starting to drink as early as the sixth grade. . . . Nancy Freudenthal released a report last week that contains a number of recommendations for state action in response to the national proposals. The first lady said the top issue in the report is a public awareness media campaign. It also recommends guidelines on alcohol advertising and sponsorships and limiting access to alcohol by minors. Still another recommendation is a review of the state's laws on alcohol and of the state's taxes on beer, wine and spirits.
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Our Solution: Environmental Prevention
Moorhead panel says communities must work to curb drinking
Grand Forks Herald, ND, December 2, 2005
Community efforts are needed to change an environment that encourages alcohol abuse, educators say. "How can you expect individuals, especially our youths, to say no to alcohol when their environment tells them yes?" asked Karin Walton, director of the North Dakota Higher Educator Consortium for Substance Abuse Prevention. Suzanne Williams, interim provost of Tri-College University, said aggressive drink promotions aimed at college students and alcohol-sponsored athletics are sending the wrong message. "We've got a culture and a society that is perpetuating the belief that high-risk drinking is a normal part of the campus experience," Williams said. She suggested raising taxes on alcohol and putting the proceeds into prevention.
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