Alcohol News: April-June 2004
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Another round in the brewhaha
Chicago Sun-Times, IL June 29, 2004
By now the public should be aware there's a nasty war going on between the nation's two largest brewers -- Anheuser Busch and Miller Brewing Co.
Clearly, Miller struck a chord when it began harping on "The King of Beers," A-B's familiar tagline. Cleverly, Miller tried to suggest there was something decidedly un-American about a big American-based beer company using such an undemocratic-sounding term.
If that wasn't enough to stir the wrath of a sleepy, but still dominant brew king, Miller also pressed its low-carb and better taste themes, which could be counted on to resonate with beer drinkers. But those themes appear to have resonated even more than A-B might have suspected, because Miller's messages were contained in some very pointed and potent advertising.
And as Miller has repeatedly stated, it isn't about to back away from its current plan of attack. "Independence From the King," a new 30-second spot from Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., set to break on the eve of the Fourth of July weekend, uses a holiday that celebrates American independence as a reason for the Miller candidate for president of beers to push for a vote that Miller hopes will free beer drinkers from the tyrannical rule of an "iron-fisted king," as the spot puts it.
The "Independence" commercial has been shot as a montage of candid black-and-white stills that give the impression the photographer has caught the Miller candidate and his aides in the executive suite heatedly plotting their plan to overthrow the king. It's a concept that comes off, at best, as awkward and way too static to make much of an impact.
But even though this execution falls considerably short of other fine "Miller for President" work in recent months, "Independence From the King" will surely keep the pressure on A-B, which, by the way, has started running yet another reaction spot that tries to suggest the brewer is using the "king of beers" tag because that's what fans around the world have, in fact, dubbed the brew. To us, that sounds like one tall tale indeed.
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French Ads Say Drink Up, Docs Fume
CBS News, NY, June 30, 2004
(AP) -- Embattled French winemakers, struggling with sagging sales but backed by a powerful alliance of lawmakers, have a message for those who like a tipple: Drink more.
But their bid to loosen restrictions on alcohol advertising has met stiff resistance from doctors' groups -- who say French consumers drink quite enough already.
France's vintners have for years suffered a steady erosion of their livelihoods by margin-squeezing supermarket chains, falling demand at home and the growing popularity of Australian and American wines abroad. A government crackdown on drunken driving has also battered domestic sales.
Amid concern for the future of French vineyards and the 300,000 jobs they support, Parliament is to vote on a Senate amendment next month that would clear the way for more wine advertising on billboards, radio, in magazines and other mainstream media.
Health workers are bitterly opposed, and three medical organizations have complained to the prime minister that the proposed changes would fuel alcoholism.
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May they see some ID?
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY, June 29, 2004
It doesn’t matter if a person trying to buy a beer has a full head of gray hair - now everyone has to show identification when purchasing alcohol at Wegmans.
At first glance, carding septuagenarians seems silly. Under the old rules, ID checks were limited to people who looked 30 and younger.
But this new policy takes the age-guessing pressure off cashiers, many of whom are teens. That’s a positive change. Stricter controls can help keep alcohol out of the hands of minors.
It can also protect businesses. Wegmans is being sued by the family of a young man who bought beer illegally and later died in a drunken driving accident.
Unfortunately a foolproof identification system can’t be the only solution, since most young drinkers get their alcohol from adult family members and friends or with fake IDs.
Although young female binge drinking is on the rise, teen drinking in general is slowly dropping. Education about the hazards of drinking and cultural changes receive much credit for that decline.
Informing young people that, for example, people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholics can encourage them to wait. And creating situations where they can have fun without drinking, such as alcohol-free graduation parties, also helps.
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Dedham (MA) theater applies for beer, wine license
Dedham Daily News Transcript, MD, June 29, 2004
Looking to spike its income with a new revenue source, the Dedham Community Theatre has applied for a license to sell beer and wine during movies and shows.
If a request is OK'd, patrons may soon be sipping a merlot with a movie or chugging a beer during a comedy show at the Dedham Square venue.
Selectmen, holding two open alcohol sales licenses, would have to grant one to Dedham Community Theatre owner Paul McMurtry.
With just two 300-seat rooms with movie screens, McMurtry said the beer and wine license would boost revenue and allow the independently-owned theater to expand by adding comedy shows.
The idea of selling alcohol at movie theaters is nothing new nationally or even locally. Nearby Stoughton has the Cinema Pub, for example.
But McMurtry said some selectmen have already expressed skepticism since it may lead to a situation in which an adult could bring alcohol to a minor inside the darkened theater.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2004
The Ultimate Game of Endrosement
ESPN.com, June 29, 2004
Dodgeball," the slapstick sports comedy that is tops at the box office, has its share of strategically placed consumer goods. The film, which centers around a small gym owner who gathers a team of members to play in a $50,000 dodgeball tournament he hopes will save his business from a hostile takeover by a rival health club, features products and brands, including Under Armour, Nike, Vitamin Water, Fiji Water, Pepsi, Budweiser, Bud Light, Nike, ESPN, Fox Sports and Nautilus. The movie has accumulated box office receipts totaling $67.2 million in its first 10 days in theatres, giving each product huge exposure potentially worth anywhere from thousands of dollars to millions.
While the financial benefits of product placement are unclear, the method continues to be effective, judging from the proliferation of the advertising, as well as the reaction from watchdog groups that have become concerned with placements by tobacco and alcohol brands in movies that target youth.
When Vince Vaughn's character, Peter LaFleur, rallies his troops to compete in the dodgeball tournament, he hands out bottles of Budweiser. Later in the movie, a neon Bud Light sign hangs in the background during a bar scene.
"Alcohol product placement gives young people a positive perception of alcohol and drinking behavior," said Amon Rappaport, communications director for the Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog, which has openly criticized Anheuser Busch's role in the PG-rated film. "Considering that alcohol, and especially beer, is the No. 1 drug of choice for underage youth in the United States, isn't it time that the alcohol industry stopped serving teenagers with beer ads in movies?"
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More on Budwesier Product Placement in PG-13 film, Dodgeball
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A Brewing Family Feud Poses Risks for Molson Beer Empire
The Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2004
MONTREAL -- One morning in May, Ian Molson strode into the executive offices of Molson Inc. looking for his cousin Eric H. Molson, who had been chairman of their family's beer company for more than 16 years.
Ian found his cousin in a hallway. "Is it true that you are opposed to my succeeding you as chairman?" Ian says he demanded to know. Eric confirmed he didn't want his cousin to take over, according to Ian.
Hours later, Ian resigned as deputy chairman, deepening a painful rift in one of North America's oldest business families. Ian had expected to one day be made chairman, even though he hailed from a branch of the family that had been sidelined. Eric, by contrast, considered his close relatives to be "real" Molsons, and was uncomfortable with his distant cousin's ambition.
As is often the case in family business dynasties, the feud stems from old wounds. According to former and current directors, family members and executives, its origins stretch back two centuries to the tangled alliances of the company's founding family, and a question that has haunted generations: Who are the "real" Molsons? Only the controlling shareholders or the wider family too?
At a time when the global beer market is consolidating in the hands of a few big players, the family schism and boardroom divisions make Molson -- currently valued at $3 billion -- a target for a hostile offer, analysts say. The family controls the 218-year-old company through a dual-stock structure; Eric and his only brother control over half the voting shares. Lloyd Barber, who retired from Molson's board last month, says Eric has "no intention" of selling, but notes that the board is duty-bound to examine any offers.
Molson, meanwhile, is battling to preserve its position in Canada and find new markets overseas. In the past 15 years, analysts say, Molson's Canadian market share has fallen to 44% from 53%.
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Blitz planned on drunken violence in town centres
Independent News, June 29, 2004
A national blitz on under-age drinking and alcohol-fuelled disorder - blamed for nearly half of all violent crime - will begin next week, David Blunkett announced yesterday.
The operation, to be led by the former US police chief Paul Evans, follows a recent warning by Tony Blair that binge drinking was in danger of becoming a "new sort of British disease".
Following sporadic trouble across the country after England's defeats in the European Championship against France and Portugal, Mr Blunkett has also told the Cabinet he is preparing other new action against drink-related violence. Tacking anti-social behaviour - including the damage caused by drunken youths - will be a main theme of the Home Office's five-year anti-crime plan, which will be released next month. It is expected to include a provision to ban repeated drunken troublemakers from licensed premises for three years.
During the campaign information will also be collected on cheap drinks promotions, including "happy hours" and "two for one" offers. Extra officers will be on duty to try to nip drunken violence in the bud and to make city centre streets feel safer.
Ministers are also holding meetings with the alcohol industry to urge it to reconsider promotions that encourage drinkers to consume large amounts in a short time.
Home Office research has found that alcohol is the cause of 44 per cent of violent crime and 70 per cent of admissions to hospital accident and casualty departments on Friday and Saturday nights. One in four people complain that drinkers regularly cause trouble in their areas.
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Bread, milk and scotch
Oregonian, OR, June 28, 2004
Oregon always has kept its hard alcohol on the highest shelf in the kitchen, almost, but not quite, out of reach. Now there's an uproar about a plan by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to make it somewhat easier for people to reach distilled spirits.
The OLCC is moving ahead with a pilot program to allow new liquor stores inside six grocery stores. The booze would sit in self-contained stores within stores, not on shelves alongside groceries. Even so, the experiment has triggered a hostile reaction from anti-alcohol groups and existing liquor store agents.
State Sen. Bill Morrisette, D-Springfield, has complained that the OLCC is "out of control." Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other groups claimed in a recent legislative hearing that the new liquor stores would inevitably lead to more youth drinking, more accidents and more alcohol abuse.
Oregon has long struggled for the right balance in making hard liquor available, but not too available. It's now clear that the state needs more liquor stores. From 1980 to 2000, Oregon grew by nearly a million people. In that time, the number of state liquor stores grew by just one outlet.
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Monday, June 28, 2004
State Leaders Convene to Address College Alcohol Problems
Ascribe Newswire, June 24, 2004
PITTSBURGH, (AScribe Newswire) -- Teams from 39 states gathered today in Pittsburgh to tackle the issue of higher alcohol excise taxes and other policy approaches to preventing underage and high-risk drinking among college students.
The four-day event, the Statewide Initiatives Leadership Institute, is the sixth in a series of national meetings involving leaders of statewide campus alcohol prevention initiatives, including policy advocates, government officials, licensing board members, and college and university staff. Previous Institutes have focused on how statewide initiative leaders can support campus and community coalitions dedicated to changing the environment that encourages student substance use. In addition to this continued priority, this year's Institute addresses alcohol pricing and increased alcohol taxation as a prevention strategy.
"In two dozen states, alcohol taxes have not increased in decades and have dwindled with inflation," states George Hacker, Director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). "Moreover, tax rates still fail miserably to compensate for the many costs of alcohol problems to society. State level increases in alcohol taxes would allow governments to reclaim a valuable source of revenue, as well as reduce alcohol consumption and consequences among young people. As so many states find their budgets in the red, this new revenue can support public health and safety programs to enforce liquor laws, prevent underage drinking and college alcohol abuse, provide treatment for alcohol and drug problems, and support traffic safety."
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Perceiving is believing
Naperville Sun, IL, June 26, 2004
Naperville teens need look no further than the recent seasons of MTV's "The Real World" to find young people being glorified for getting drunk beyond belief on a regular basis.
However, it appears that even if they make healthful choices themselves, these teens draw their perceptions of substance abuse from those who make drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco and abusing drugs appear a common practice among America's youth.
Recent survey and census results from the Social Norms Marketing Campaign in Naperville School District 203 and Indian Prairie School District 204 indicated that Naperville high school students believed 85 percent of their classmates smoked tobacco or consumed alcohol within the past month.
In reality, three-fourths of those students reported that they had never smoked tobacco, and two-thirds of them said they hadn't consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.
"So it's like a huge disparity," said Karen Jarczyk, program coordinator at NCO Youth and Family Services. "In theory, if we can change that perception, we can change that behavior, too."
Seeking to correct the misconception, the students were targeted with the Social Norms Marketing Campaign during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 school years.
"Media out there just plaster them with the idea that everybody's doing it," said Sandy Stelmach, District 203's student assistance coordinator.
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Businesses with vested interests supply governor's mansion with free booze, wine
New London Day, CT,June 27, 2004
Is there anything wrong with the liquor industry providing free booze for official state parties at the Governor's Residence? You bet there is. The liquor industry has certain bills it wants passed in the General Assembly or favorable state statutes the industry wants unchanged. So what is a special-interest group doing liquoring up the governor, his friends, state legislators and anybody else who gets an official invitation to the residence on Prospect Street in Hartford?
There's no justification for the governor's office taking free booze so the taxpayers don't pick up the tab. But tradition has powerful endurance and so no one does anything to change this practice, which smacks of a conflict of interest.
But what happens when the liquor industry is lobbying for Sunday hours for state liquor sales in package stores? Or trying to get its point across on some other issue?
It's difficult to justify the acceptance of freebies as anything but an attempt to get in the good graces of the governor and the other top state officials who regularly gather at the executive residence along with captains of industry and the like.
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Alcohol rules could change
Hattiesburg American, MS, June 25, 2004
Last call for alcohol at Forrest County bars may come a little later in the future. Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee said he wants bars and clubs in the county to stop selling alcohol at 2 a.m., the same time last call is mandated in Hattiesburg.
"We've got people who leave Hattiesburg at 2 a.m. when the bars close and drive to a county club where they continue drinking until 5 or 6 a.m.," McGee said Thursday. "They are just getting drunker and then driving county roads."
Hattiesburg ordinances require all bars and clubs to stop selling beer and liquor at 2 a.m. Forrest County operates under state law which stops alcohol sales at midnight but allows bars or clubs to remain open.
"When Hattiesburg closes down, people arrive at county spots and brown-bag it," the sheriff said. He said patrons bring their own alcohol or buy it before the cutoff time.
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Friday, June 25, 2004
Marin Institute Responds to Peter Coors' Plan to Lower Drinking Age; Statement of Mark Pertschuk, Executive Director
Business Wire, June 25, 2004
SAN RAFAEL--The following is a statement by Mark Pertschuk of the Marin Institute: Peter Coors' suggestion that we "reopen the debate" on lowering the drinking age comes as no surprise to those who have followed Coors' youth-oriented advertising over the years. Perhaps now that he is a candidate for the US Senate, Mr. Coors wants to do legally what his company has been doing for years -- targeting kids with promotions for beer. Twenty years ago Coors Brewing was the first to position Halloween as a beer-drinking holiday -- launching what became an industry-wide practice of using Halloween images to market beer. More recently, public outcry forced Coors to withdraw a TV ad campaign that featured a shirtless, howling young man with "Coors" painted on his chest. This past October teen moviegoers filled theaters to see Scary Movie 3 -- a PG-13 film co-promoted by Coors featuring Coors Light and an appearance by the Coors Twins.
Mr. Coors must be uncomfortable that a significant chunk of his company's profits -- like those of other major brewers -- come from underage drinking. But rather than heed the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences to curb youth access to alcohol in its recent report "Reducing Underage Drinking," Mr. Coors wants to make the problem go away by dropping the drinking age. Too bad it isn't that easy to reclaim the thousands of young lives lost to alcohol-related homicide, suicide, motor vehicle and other injuries that occur in our country each year even with a national drinking age of 21.
There is no serious debate on the effectiveness of the national 21 drinking age law. Since its adoption 20 years ago, the law has saved nearly 20,000 young lives from alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes alone. If Mr. Coors wants to deliberate about something, he should focus instead on why beer taxes remain so low despite the fact that alcohol-related problems cost our nation upwards of $184 billion a year and young people can buy beer that is cheaper than water. Those, Mr. Coors, are questions worthy of debate.
See examples of Coors youth-targeted promotions at: http://www.marininstitute.org/coors/
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Colo. Senate hopeful: Lower drinking age
Boston Globe, MA, June 24, 2004
DENVER -- Republican Senate candidate and brewery magnate Peter Coors has reiterated his support for lowering the drinking age to 18, saying that young people drink anyway and the government has made them criminals.
During a debate with primary opponent Bob Schaffer on Wednesday, Coors didn't back down from remarks he made several years ago in support of lowering the drinking age from 21. Coors said it could help teenagers learn to drink responsibly.
He also criticized government efforts to force states to raise the legal age. "I don't think that's a proper use of the executive branch," he said.
The remarks set off criticism Thursday.
Underage drinking destroys lives and costs our nation billions of dollars," said James Copple, co-director of the International Institute for Alcohol Awareness.
The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation said underage drinking costs the nation $62.6 billion annually in deaths, injuries, property damage, and related economic and productivity losses. It said alcohol consumption by underage drinkers in 2001 led to 3,212 deaths nationwide.
Coors did not return phone calls seeking comment.
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Report: Binge Drinking on Rise in Young Women
Forbes, June 23, 2004
Binge drinking among young women is on the rise, bringing with it a number of health consequences, including fetal alcohol syndrome.
That's the conclusion of a report, Alcohol and Pregnancy Don't Mix, issued Wednesday by the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It found that binge drinking in women aged 18 to 44 increased in the United States by 13 percent between 1999 and 2002.
Why the overall increase? Experts aren't sure, but advertising might have something to do with it.
"The general thinking is that the market has shifted to women as a very easy target," said Dr. Gopal Upadhya,medical director of Areba Casriel Institute, a substance abuse treatment facility in New York City.
"The marketing of alcohol, the specials that are offered around campuses that make getting drunk cheaper than going to the movies, are an allure that draw people to drinking more than they normally would," Wechsler added. "The more prices are lowered and drinks becomes super-sized, the greater the chance that people will drink more at a sitting."
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More on the Effects of Alcohol on Women
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Brewing company ousted as fair sponsor
Marin Independent Journal, CA, June 24, 2004
A coalition of Marin community groups has staged a beer-sponsorship Putsch, unseating "the president of beers" - Miller Brewing Co. - as the title sponsor at next week's Marin County Fair.
"This is a first in the fair industry; it's never been done before," said Jim Farley, the county's deputy director of cultural and visitor services, who manages the fair.
As a result, Miller's banner will not fly over the fair's entertainment pavilion, nor will the beer company's logo appear on tickets to the fair, on the county's electronic sign facing Highway 101, or in most newspaper ads for the fair, Farley said.
"The Play Fair coalition feels that a family-oriented fair should be associated with pro-health messages, not beer messages," said Amon Rappaport, a spokesman for the Marin Institute. The Institute, which is funded by the Buck Trust, works to reduce alcohol problems through prevention.
"Clearly, alcohol is our nation's No. 1 drug problem," said Larry Meredith, the county's director of Health and Human Services. "We don't need to celebrate entertainment by flying the colors of a brewing company."
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Film's Beer Ads Anger Alcohol Policy Group
New York Times, NY, June 23, 2004
An alcohol policy advocacy group complained yesterday that the new film "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" exposes too many teenagers to beer advertising, through placements of packaging and signs for the Budweiser and Bud Light brands sold by the Anheuser-Busch division of the Anheuser-Busch Companies.
The advocacy group, the Marin Institute...cited "Dodgeball," which was the No. 1 film last week in its first week, as an example of aggressive beer marketing to teenagers through placements in films rated PG-13. Amon Rappaport, communications director at the Marin Institute, said the brewers exploited the lack of guidelines for advertising in movies. Voluntary guidelines call for brewers to run print and television ads only where at least 70 percent of the audience is above the drinking age. The advocacy group is based in San Rafael, Calif.
John T. Kaestner, vice president for consumer affairs at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, said the company places its products only in movies with adult appeal whose ticket buyers are mostly at least 21 years old. "Just like 'The Stepford Wives' and 'The Terminal,' which are rated PG-13, 'Dodgeball' appeals to an adult audience," Mr. Kaestner said.
Other PG-13 movies like "Scary Movie 3" and "Spider-Man" have also included product placement for beer companies. The studio that released "Dodgeball," the 20th Century Fox division of the News Corporation, said it would try to provide someone to discuss beer placements in the film but was unable to do so by deadline.
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Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Underage drinking topic of Mont Belvieu, TX, meeting
Baytown Sun, TX, June 22, 2004
Residents of Mont Belvieu and surrounding areas are saying “Enough.” Enough underage drinking and enough tragedy among the community’s young people. Their concerns are taking them to the Mont Belvieu Senior Center tonight to ask the next logical question, “What can we do about it?”
Parents and residents of the Barbers Hill school district are gathering for a public forum to hear the scope of the underage drinking problem, to ask questions of local school officials and to learn their rights from law enforcement officers.
Slated speakers include Tim Sonnenberg, who will share results from an anonymous survey in which Barbers Hill High School students describe their access to and use of alcoholic beverages; Mont Belvieu Chief of Police Jerry Whitman, who will discuss safety elements of the use of alcohol by minors; Lt. Deborah Jones of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, who will discuss alcohol policy and the legal history of enforcement; and Joni Adams, resident and former DARE officer for Barbers Hill schools who will share her observations of local teenage alcohol abuse.
“Our community has a growing problem with underage drinking,” said forum organizer Sherman Hampton. “Concerned parents want to talk about the problem and find solutions to it.
“With this meeting we’ll be able to hear from experts about the legal aspects of providing alcohol to young people, as well as show our law enforcement officials and school officials that we are supportive of their efforts.”
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Georgia beer lovers to get more alcohol
Charleston.net/Associated Press, June 21, 2004
Beer in Georgia is about to get more kick.
The raising of the maximum beer-alcohol content from 6 percent to 14 percent means a new wave of microbrews and international beers will soon be for sale in the state, giving Georgians options beyond their usual lightweight brews.
"Beer has gotten a bad rap because of what we've been forced to drink the last 40 to 50 years," said Glen Sprouse, brewmaster at Five Seasons Brewing in Atlanta. "Maybe you haven't had a good beer before."
Breweries are anticipating the influx of beers by holding tastings and parties.
The proposal to raise the beer-alcohol limit met resistance each of the last few years in the state Legislature. Some politicians were concerned teenagers would seek out beers with higher alcohol limits and people would get drunk faster and endanger roadways.
"The biggest concerns were adding to the number of DUIs and accidents related to alcohol that may kill somebody," said Rep. Craig Brock, R-Chatsworth, who voted against the bill. "It's been a hot issue."
No one put up significant opposition to the legislation this year, not even Mothers Against Drunk Driving. At the same time, beer drinkers enlisted a few state representatives to help them and hired a lobbyist to persuade others.
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Drunkenness a target for Australian community awareness
News-Medical.net, June 22, 2004
The Drug and Alcohol Office today launched the first phase of a long-term strategy to reduce drunkenness and its contribution to a range of problems experienced by the community.
Dr. Allsop said the Enough is Enough alcohol education program was part of a long-term strategy to decrease the acceptance for drunkenness, and increase support for changes to environments that reduce drunkenness and related harm.
The first phase of the program will include media advertising, community-based initiatives and access to an interactive website which includes information and acts as a referral point for members of the community to identify options that can help with their local problem or area of interest.
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Free beer for voters falls flat
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY, June 22, 2004
Monroe County Democrats joined with High Falls Brewery to offer two free 2-ounce beers to those who registered to vote at the festival. Then the new voter went into a voting booth and picked the brew they liked the most. The promotion was called “Register Your Taste.”
The initiative drew jeers from substance abuse counselors, who knocked it for promoting alcohol consumption. But Molly Clifford, head of Monroe County Democrats, said the samples were small and was just a fun way to get young people, who tend to shy away from voting, involved in the process.
Candidates would often have vats of booze at polling places to lure voters. In fact, George Washington lost his first bid for the Assembly in Virginia in the mid-1700s because he didn’t spend enough on alcohol, said Eric Burns, a Fox News media analyst and author of the book, The Spirits of America.
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Monday, June 21, 2004
Bucs' All-You-Can-Drink Deal Raises Some Safety Concerns
Tampa Tribune, FL, June 19, 2004
Safe-driving advocates criticized the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Friday for offering ticket packages that include unlimited beer during pregame tailgate parties, arguing it could lead some fans to drive drunk.
The Buccaneers advertised the game ticket and tailgate promotion in two full-page newspaper advertisements Monday in The Tampa Tribune.
The Tribune is a Pewter Partner of the Buccaneers, a promotional arrangement under which the newspaper is among the team's sponsors. Bernie Petrich, the Tribune's advertising operations manager, said the Bucs redeemed some of the value of that sponsorship by running the ads.
The ads billed the game events as ``Tampa Bay's Largest Tailgate Party'' and the ``Ultimate Tailgate Opportunity.''
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Enforcement tied to bars closing
Iowa City Press-Citizen, IA, June 20, 2004
The notorious Iowa City establishments have locked their doors or closed their bars after racking up alcohol-serving violations - something numerous bars have gotten one or more of in the past three years.
"To my recollection, this is the most establishments closed at one time," said Lynn Walding, administrator with the state's Alcoholic Beverages Division, adding that the rising number of violations can, in part, be credited to an increase in local alcohol-enforcement. "With the enforcement programs that started three to four years ago, what we are now seeing are the results of that enforcement."
The Airliner, 22 S. Clinton St., began serving a three-month alcohol license suspension on June 6 for accumulating three violations for service to minors. The bar, typically open from 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., stopped serving alcohol and started closing its doors at 10 p.m. upon commencement of the suspension.
Fitzpatrick's, 525 S. Gilbert St., did more than stop serving alcohol after receiving three violations for service to minors since 2002. Owner Gary Fitzpatrick decided to close his business completely, putting him effectively out of business beginning May 25.
"I wouldn't have sold the business. I would have stayed, because I love Iowa City," owner George Barlas said. "But it's the stepped-up policy of the city to curb the underage drinking, that's what it comes down to. If they want to target an area, the bars are the place to start."
The City Council began taking a more active role in regulating alcohol use in 2001, when it banned some drink specials and took on more authority to revoke or suspend alcohol licenses. From 2001 to 2002, the number of arrests made for possession of alcohol under the legal age more than doubled from 988 to 2,271. Councilors continued their push to curb underage and binge drinking by passing a law last year banning those under age 19 from entering alcohol-serving establishments after 10 p.m.
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Minor sales a major deal for program
Montgomery Advertiser, AL, June 21, 2004
An aggressive program in Prattville to lower the rate of underage alcohol sales is being recognized as one of the best in the nation.
Since 1996, the project has been credited with lowering reported sales to minors a whopping 83 percent. The effort is handled by the Prattville Police Department and the Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control Board that controls alcohol sales in the state.
Under the program, teens age 16-19 go into area businesses and attempt to purchase alcohol. No other city in Alabama uses an approach like this, said Martha Ellis, director of Peers Are Staying Straight (P.A.S.S.) an anti-alcohol and drug use program geared to senior and junior high students in Autauga County. There have been 30 checks done so far this year, with no reported sales.
"That makes Prattville's effort the best in the nation," Ellis said. "If you look back over the years, you see a steady increase in the number of checks conducted, and a steady decrease in the number of sales made to underage drinkers. We have had numerous communities contact us to get information about what's being done in Prattville."
The effort was singled out last year by the Community of Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Division and the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention.
"The reason this program is so successful is because we work closely with the ABC Board and the local businesses in town. The credit needs to go to the officers, the operatives, the ABC agents and the business owners. Everything is open and above board" said Michael Pauline, manager of Longhorn Steakhouse.
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Friday, June 18, 2004
Appeals court says bar can sue underage drinkers
Fort Wayne News Sentinel, IN, June 17, 2004
Owners of a South Bend bar that could have lost its liquor license for serving minors can sue the underage drinkers, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled.
The appeals court has decided that while public policy places the burden of enforcing the underage drinking laws on bar owners, “we also recognize the competing public policy that the minors should be held accountable for their actions.”
The Millennium Club Inc., which owns The Boat Club bar, last year sued more than 200 people, primarily students from the University of Notre Dame and St. Mary’s College, seeking $3,000 in damages from each.
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Village blocks out underage drinking
Elm Leaves, IL, June 16, 2004
At the June 3 Village Board meeting, Trustee Carmen Forte expressed his concern that minors were indulging in alcoholic beverages at block parties, some of which are serving a dual purpose as graduation parties. He suggested the person seeking the block party permit be held liable in case of underage drinking.
But Village President Peter Silvestri said he thought it would be unfair to the person asking for the permit. "They're doing a public service," Silvestri said. "They're creating a community bond."
He noted the difficulty one would have trying to observe all the activity going on along the block. Instead, Silvestri suggested police officers walk through block parties.
"They have to get out of their cars," Silvestri said of officers. "It probably would make for good community relations. "I think it could be a good community outreach," he noted, adding he did not want officers to act "like Gestapo."
Police Chief Thomas Braglia explained that many times officers do interact with residents at block parties, often bringing in the squad car and allowing the children to take a closer look.
Instead of making a block party petitioner subject to arrest in cases of underage drinking, Silvestri suggested allowing police officers to do their jobs.
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More on Changing the Alcohol Environment at Public Events
Resident fights Byram BYOB ban
Star Ledger, NJ, June 13, 2004
In 1977, the state of New Jersey sanctioned the practice of bringing beer and wine into restaurants that don't have a liquor license. Later that year, Byram in Sussex County passed a law restricting non-licensed eateries from allowing their customers to bring their own liquor.
Twenty-seven years later, a Byram resident is challenging that law. Roy McDonald is collecting signatures to overturn the policy and permit the township's nearly 9,000 residents to bring beer or wine to the handful of restaurants that are not licensed to serve alcohol.
Councilwoman Donna Griff dreads the prospect of Byram changing its law. "I think there's a potential for underage drinking in those restaurants and there is a potential for someone walking out of that restaurant and causing a serious accident in their car because nobody's checking them, because they don't have to," Griff said.
BYOB locales are not held to the stringent standards that establishments with liquor licenses must follow. According to state law, restaurants that allow BYOB must restrict intake to beer and wine and allow consumption only during hours when other bars operate in the respective town. They are barred from advertising the policy, issuing additional fees or permitting underage patrons to drink liquor.
"They don't understand the liability of these things," Michael Stabile, co-owner of Wild West City, said. "Who monitors the consumption? Who monitors the fact that a kid might be at the table, 17 years old? That's kind of like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse."
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More on the Environmental Prevention Model
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Anti-drinking programs not always effective
La Vista Sun, NE, June 16, 2004
Though there are many projects and programs trying to address problems with underage drinking, Nigel Wrangham said many of them are missing the mark when it comes to dealing with what he calls the true problems.
Most of the programs, he said, target individual change, not group change, Wrangham said. Changing a group of people's behavior, he said, can only come by making environmental changes. "Making individual changes focuses on behavior and behavior change," he said. "Environmental change focuses on policy and policy change."
Among the changes Wrangham and other advocates of environmental changes are pushing for are raising the cost of alcohol, limiting the hours of sale and the outlets of distribution, increasing training for clerks and servers regarding checking of identification, and requiring the registering of bulk amounts of alcohol, such as kegs of beer.
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More on the Environmental Prevention Model
Pattern of alcohol consumption key in development of liver disease, UB study finds
University at Buffalo Reporter, NY, June 17, 2004
Women who habitually consume alcohol without food and men who drink daily rather than less frequently are at increased risk of liver damage even after adjusting for amount of alcohol consumed, the first study of the effects of drinking patterns on biochemical indicators of alcohol-related liver damage has shown.
The study is highlighted in the June issue of Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. Saverio Stranges, research instructor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health and Health Professions is principal investigator.
"The findings further confirm that the relationship between alcohol consumption and disease risk is a complex one. They emphasize the need to incorporate into alcohol research the many different and complex components of drinking patterns, such as the frequency and setting of consumption," said Stranges.
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More on Health Care Costs of Alcohol Problems
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Sparks could ban beer cans at Victorian Square events
Reno Gazette Journal, NV, June 16, 2004
First it was requiring drinkers to wear wristbands. Now it’s banning the ubiquitous can of beer.
In the ongoing effort to curb public drunkenness and underage drinking, the Sparks City Council is considering two ordinances that would outlaw alcoholic beverages in metal containers at Victorian Square special events.
City Manager Shaun Carey said if passed, the laws would help police better identify illegal drinkers and provide for the safety of event patrons. Full beer cans could be thrown and hurt someone, he said.
The city already requires bars on Victorian Avenue that sell beer and other alcoholic beverages from outdoor booths or windows to require proof of age and issue wristbands to verify customers have been checked.
“We are just trying to maintain a family atmosphere on Victorian Square,” Carey said. “We believe these modifications will improve the success of our events and protect our young people.”
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Colbert County, AL, Commissioners Deny Liquor License For A Shoals Night Club
WAFF, AL, June 16, 2004
Liquor license denied. The owners of El Lugar De Las Estrellas won't be able to serve alcohol.
Tuesday night the Colbert County Commission voted unanimously against the liquor license because of safety concerns.
Residents are worried if alcohol is served, the chances of drunk driving accidents will go up. Since the club is located at the bottom of a hill, county commissioners say visibility would be poor especially for drivers trying to pull out of the club. Plus, there wouldn't be enough officers patrolling the area because the sheriff's department is stretched too thin.
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More on Alcohol Outlet Density
Gautier Council to debate alcohol use in city parks
Pascagoula Mississippi Press, MS, June 15, 2004
The Gautier City Counci, MS, l will decide tonight whether to ban the use of alcohol from all public locations or only those that host youth activities. The council has two choices in changing the city's alcohol use ordinance: Either to ban all open containers of alcoholic beverages in all public areas or only at Bacot Park, Buddy Davis Softball Park and the Jackson County Sports Complex.
Gautier Planning Director Ralph Hode has recommended the use and sale of alcohol be kept away from youth sports activities. He said it's important that young people not be subjected to alcohol use in close proximity to their activities.
"Either one of them are acceptable," Hode said. "One is more difficult to manage than the other. ...To have an open container at the boat ramp or to have an open container at a family picnic, the mayor and City Council will have to make a decision on whether or not that's something they want to enforce."
Gautier resident Wanda Payton, who has two daughters --LaWanda and Naim -- attending the Jackson and George Counties Boys and Girls Clubs' Gautier Unit at Bacot Park, said she hopes the council bans alcohol at that park and the other two. She said the use of alcohol can influence young children.
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More on Changing the Alcohol Environment at Public Events
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
High, and at Risk
Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2004
Next weekend's gay pride festivities in Los Angeles are likely to be the
usual rollicking celebration of battles won and hardships overcome. The gay community is rightfully proud of its response to the first decades of the AIDS epidemic. And we have reason to rejoice in ongoing civil rights advances. But, as we celebrate, there is still a vexing problem we need to come to terms with: the centrality of drugs and alcohol to gay culture.
In predominately gay neighborhoods, bars and clubs are everywhere. And city governments dependent on tax revenues from these businesses have little incentive to consider their effects....Perhaps the time has come for a moratorium on new liquor licenses in heavily gay communities, along with leadership at the local level in developing social alternatives to bars and clubs.
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Committee to recommend ban on alcohol advertising
Ireland Online, Ireland, June 15, 2004
The Oireachtas committee on health and children is set to recommend a ban on alcohol advertising within three years in an effort to curb alcohol abuse among young Irish people.
In a report due to be published today, the committee will also recommend that the Government campaign for such a ban at EU level.
The proposals are among a range of recommendations that also include a ban on alcohol firms sponsoring sporting events, a doubling of taxes on so-called “alcopops” and price controls for soft drinks in pubs to encourage people to choose a non-alcoholic option.
The committee’s proposals are wide-ranging and are likely to meet stiff opposition from drinks firms, sporting organizations, publicans and other parties.
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Monday, June 14, 2004
Alcohol Abuse Up, but Alcoholism Down
Associated Press, June 11, 2004
Alcohol abuse is up in America - sharply for most groups - a government study said Friday. At the same time alcoholism was down.
Some 4.65 percent of the adult population reported alcohol abuse in 2001-2002, up from 3.03 percent a decade earlier, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported.
During the same period, the share of the population who were judged to be alcoholics slipped from 4.38 percent to 3.81 percent of people aged 18 and over, the institute said.
What is surprising, then, is that the prevalence of alcohol abuse increased in the face of slightly declining rates of heavy drinking," said the research team led by Bridget F. Grant of the institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health
See full text of article
Absolut bust
San Francisco Examiner, CA, June 10, 2004
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly has filed suit against San Mateo merchant Wine Globe, which owns and manages the Web site www.wineglobe.com. Three other non-Massachusetts online retailers are also being sued -- including wine.com in San Francisco -- after Reilly's office completed a sting operation with the help of the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission and several Massachusetts college students younger than 21.
"Alcohol can be lethal when placed in the wrong hands," Reilly said in a press release. "We have to do everything we can to keep alcohol away from our kids until they are old enough to make responsible decisions about its use."
The Alcoholic Beverage Control is conducting an investigation into Wine Globe to see if it should be penalized for selling to minors under California's laws.
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Film censors target smoking and drinking on screen to protect children's health
Independent, UK - Jun 12, 2004
Film censors are considering new measures to protect children's health by clamping down on Hollywood scenes of drinking and smoking, The Independent on Sunday has learnt.
In future, tobacco and alcohol could be included alongside sex and violence when the film board classifies new movies - a step which could ban children from watching films where heavy smoking is portrayed.
The British Board of Film Classification has included smoking and drinking in a list of activities that could be covered in new guidelines for age restrictions that will come into force later this year. A final decision on whether films that include smoking will be rated at 15-plus is expected within the next few months following a consultation exercise.
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More on Alochol Ads and Youth
Friday, June 11, 2004
Graduation Parties And Alcohol
Don't Mix
WNEM (MI), Fri, Jun 11, 2004
With the end of the school year comes graduation, and then the graduation parties
where alcoholic beverages are often made available to teenagers by parents
who are normally law abiding citizens. But now there is a new initiative underway
to help keep Mid-Michigan graduates safe.
Law enforcement officials report that alcohol consumption
at graduation parties is getting out of hand. That's why
Midland County is cracking down on underage drinking, and
implementing the "Fences" program to educates people
about the dangers of drinking at a young age.
TV5 has learned that if you're caught serving alcohol to
someone underage, you could face penalties ranging from a
fine to possible jail time. Last year, Midland County law
enforcement arrested 550 drunk drivers, and responded to
217 loud party calls in Midland County alone.
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on Holding Parents Responsible for Teen Drinking Parties
Meeting to tackle underage
drinking
Bend Bulletin (OR), Fri, Jun 11, 2004
Alarming incidents involving youth and alcohol have spurred Jefferson County
leaders to hold a special meeting on underage drinking next week.
Concerned the community's adults are sending mixed messages
to its teens, the group will discuss ways to tackle what
has long been a pervasive problem throughout the nation.
The meeting will take place next Wednesday at the county
Fire Hall...
...Local officials say alcohol is easy to get for any teens
who want it. Some hire people 21 and older to purchase it
for them, or ask older siblings to do it. Others break into
their parents' liquor cabinet. And still others get it direct
from parents who provide it willingly.
Such parents are a big cause of the problem, said Gary Carlton,
principal of Madras High School.
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on Alcohol and Youth
Life, liberty and pursuit of
a six-pack
Omaha World-Herald (NE), Fri, Jun 11, 2004
A Fourth of July picnic with hot dogs, chips, potato salad - but no beer - struck
Omaha-area grocers, Lincoln caterers and officials in both cities as downright
un-American.
With the holiday falling this year on a Sunday, cities and towns across Nebraska
are pondering whether to ease up for the day on local bans against selling
alcoholic beverages before noon.
The Sunday restrictions are set by local governments, said Mary Messman, of
the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. Some are seeking exceptions for the
holiday, Messman said, while others are holding firm.
In Omaha, No Frills, Hy-Vee, Baker's and a number of convenience stores are
seeking special permits to sell alcohol that morning. The Omaha City Law Department
is drafting an ordinance to allow the special one-time permits.
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full text of article
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Louisiana Bill closes teen
drinking loophole
2-The Advocate (LA), Thu, Jun 10, 2004
A Senate panel Tuesday advanced a House-passed bill that would eliminate a
legal loophole that allows underage teens to party with alcohol at private
homes.
House Bill 872 by Rep. Daniel Martiny, R-Kenner, would
eliminate the exception in the state law that allows revelers
under the age of 21 to possess and consume alcohol at a private
residence.
Murphy Painter, state Alcohol and Tobacco Control commissioner,
said the legislation was prompted by an incident involving
underage drinking at a private home in Ascension Parish.
"The sheriff there was having trouble coming up with
something they could charge people with," Painter said.
But Painter said some prosecutors, sheriffs and police chiefs
are hesitant to raid private underage parties because of
the state law's exception for private residences.
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on Holding Parents Responsible for Teen Drinking Parties
Responsible Ads on Drinking
- EDITORIAL
Christian Science Monitor, Thu, Jun 10, 2004
Television ads that promote "responsible" drinking and are produced
by the alcoholic beverage industry are far less prevalent than ads for those
products. In fact, the ratio was less than 1 to 200 during the year 2002, according
to Georgetown University's Center on Alcohol Marketing
and Youth.
"Responsibility" ads carry important messages
- such as warnings about drinking and driving and the need
for drinkers to use a designated driver. But between 2001
and 2002, the number of those ads dropped by 46 percent,
while the number of alcohol commercials went up a disappointing
39 percent.
The alcoholic beverage industry can help such a campaign
by paying for more public service messages on responsible
drinking.
See
full Editorial
Massachusetts Sues Four Online
Wine Retailers for Illegal Sales and Shipping
Wine Spectator, Thu, Jun 10, 2004
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly is suing four online retailers for
selling alcoholic beverages to minors and violating the state's liquor laws.
His move comes only two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear two
cases that could shape the future of direct-to-consumer wine shipments, and forces
opposed to online alcohol sales are seeking to use the Massachusetts lawsuits
to bolster their arguments.
During a sting operation organized by Reilly and the state Alcohol Beverages
Control Commission (ABCC) and conducted in 2002 and 2004, five underage volunteers
purchased wine, beer and spirits via the Internet using their own credit cards
and Massachusetts shipping addresses, the lawsuits allege.
The suits name four out-of-state retailers: Sherry-Lehmann Wines and Spirits
in New York; WineGlobe in San Mateo, Calif.; Queen Anne Wine and Spirits Emporium
in Teaneck, N.J.; and Clubs of America in Lakemore, Ill. None were licensed
to sell alcoholic beverages in Massachusetts. The state, like nearly half the
states in the country, bans interstate shipments of alcohol directly to consumers.
See
full text of article
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
Battle for beer supremacy comes to a head in China
Detroit News, MI, June 9, 2004
SHANGHAI, China- In the latest skirmish, Anheuser-Busch defeated SABMiller last week for control of Harbin Brewery Group Ltd., a century-old beer maker in the northeastern city of Harbin.
The maker of Budweiser, Bud Ice and other well-known beers grabbed a controlling 37.4 percent share in Harbin Brewery, making an automatic bid for Harbin that topped SABMiller’s offer by nearly 30 percent.
The Chinese management approved the U.S. company’s offer, and London-based SABMiller bowed out, agreeing to sell its 28 percent stake to Anheuser-Busch for $211 million.
The fight over Harbin Brewery reflects the surging foreign interest in China’s beer industry, which surpassed the United States in 2002 as the world’s biggest.
Chinese beer sales are growing by more than 5 percent a year - a fast clip compared to stagnant U.S. and European markets. And the potential for growth seems huge - the average Chinese drinks just 38 pints a year, compared with 176.4 pints for Americans, according to industry estimates.
Anheuser-Busch has launched an advertising push for the thirsty summer season, plastering Shanghai subway cars with posters of red and white, dripping cold Bud bottles. Neon Budweiser signs festoon beer gardens downtown, and Bud billboards are planted in obscure local housing compounds.
See full text of article
Anheuser-Busch Unveils Low-Carb Beverage
Associated Press, June 08, 2004
ST. LOUIS - With the menu of low-carb foods ever growing, Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. believes consumers perhaps need something fruity, carb-friendly and alcoholic to wash it all down. Enter the world's largest brewer's latest concoction: A black cherry-flavored beverage with a splash of vanilla, packing just 2.6 grams of carbohydrates and 96 calories per 12-ounce serving.
The St. Louis-based brewer bills Bacardi Silver Low-Carb Black Cherry - launched nationwide June 1 but formally announced Tuesday - as the industry's lowest-carb among players in the segment of liquor-branded flavored malt beverages.
The category has seen its ups and downs, rebounding a bit after a double-digit dropoff in sales last year. And the fact that no one has dominance in the segment may explain Anheuser-Busch's push to broaden its lineup, said Benj Steinman of the Beer Marketer's Insights trade magazine.
"It's all a game of line extensions right now," he said. "The only thing that's generating incremental volume is new flavors. New flavors is where the action is."
Anheuser-Busch's foray into the low-carb, spirit-branded market came a couple of months after rival Miller Brewer Co. debuted its SKYY Sport, a citrus-flavored beverage with 15 grams of carbs and 160 calories.
It is slightly more female than beer. That's our thinking," he said.
See full text of article
More on the Industry Pushing Low-Carb Alcohol
Heinrich wants to stop liquor sales near treatment facilities
Albuquerque Business Journal, June 7, 2004
Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich, District 6, announced Monday the introduction of an amendment to the city's code of ordinances that would prohibit liquor vending within 500 feet of the city's substance abuse and treatment program sites.
"It is entirely unproductive to have bars and sobering services centers next door to one another," Heinrich said in a statement. "That's not good planning and it's not good policy."
The ordinance attempts to address concerns of treatment service providers that the proximity of liquor vending establishments creates issues for those using their treatment facilities.
The announcement is the latest in a series of efforts by Heinrich to address issues of alcohol and substance abuse within Albuquerque and especially in his home district.
See full text of article
More on Recovery Communities Teaming with Prevention Advocates
Investigators enlist students' help in online alcohol sale sting
Boston Herald, MA, June 8, 2004
At the direction of investigators, underage college students ordered dozens of bottles of beer, wine and alcohol from online retailers and had the booze shipped to their homes - helping the state crack down on Internet liquor sales to minors.
From that sting, four online retailers that did not have state licenses were sued by the state this week for failing to verify the ages of their customers. And three shippers - FedEx, UPS and DHL - now face an administrative hearing for allegedly delivering the alcohol to minors, Attorney General Thomas Reilly said Tuesday.
Another three liquor retailers were referred to state liquor authorities for allegedly selling to minors. ``I've seen what has happened to children when alcohol gets in the way. I've seen lives ruined. I've seen lives lost,'' Reilly said.
Reilly and Treasurer Tim Cahill, whose office oversees the Alcohol Beverages Control Commission, announced the sting while standing near a display of the alcohol bought by the youngsters: 50 bottles of wine, four six-packs of beer and more than a dozen types of hard alcohol, from tequila to vodka to brandy.
It was remarkably easy for the youngsters to buy the alcohol and have it shipped to them, Reilly said. It was sometimes delivered without a demand for proof of age, and at other times was simply left on their doorstep.
See full text of article
Tuesday, June 8, 2004
Task Force Targets Alcohol Purchasers
New University, CA, June 8, 2004
The UCI Police Department, in conjunction with the City of Irvine Police Department, is attempting to crack down on underage drinking by launching a new Alcohol and Beverage Control Task Force to find and arrest adults who purchase alcohol for underage persons.
Prompted by a $50,000 federal grant, the program is designed to improve training of local and campus law enforcement personnel in dealing with problems of illegal alcohol consumption among minors, especially on campus. The funding will be used toward assisting with undercover operations and providing extra facilities for training. Consequently, UCI, along with UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara, has established the program in order to keep illegal alcohol consumption under control.
Prompted by a $50,000 federal grant, the program is designed to improve training of local and campus law enforcement personnel in dealing with problems of illegal alcohol consumption among minors, especially on campus.
The program, already four months in effect, is organized by Sgt. Shaun Devlin of the UCIPD. Devlin explains the purpose of the program. “Basically, what we’re doing is stopping it at the point of sale,” Devlin said.
However, a fourth-year social science major who has bought alcohol for parties believes that the issue is not with trying to catch underage drinking, but rather with the society. “The problem is not necessarily older people handing alcohol to younger people. That is one of the narrow slices of what the major problem is,” he said. “The bigger problem is American culture, where you have young people going out and binge drinking and having drinking parties where they go to the point of being wasted, which is one of the social problems in the United States that we need to address.”
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More on Preventing Alcohol Problems on College Campuses
Want to make a difference on campus? Start here.
Monday, June 7, 2004
Tenderloin (SF) teens pursue the positive, Youth group strives to counter culture of booze, cigarettes
The San Francisco Chronicle, June 5, 2004
As a member of Youth with a Vengeance, a youth leadership program for Tenderloin residents, Nhey hopes to steer other neighborhood kids from the hazards of underage drinking and smoking. The program's eight members recently transformed a neighborhood corner store into a showcase for the Tenderloin's diversity and culture by replacing the alcohol and tobacco advertisements that dominated the store walls with positive pictures of the neighborhood and its residents.
"Too many kids in the community are affected," said Nhey. "There are a lot of (alcohol and cigarette) sales. People can be influenced by these advertisements."
"If we can change one store, maybe another store will follow," said group member Vy Le, 15.
Mohamed Alhaj, the store's owner, said he didn't think twice about complying with the kids' request to take down neon signs, posters and banners that glorified alcohol and tobacco use.
The leadership program is a collaborative effort by the Indochinese Housing Development community on Eddy Street and the Youth Leadership Institute, a national nonprofit that works with community-based youth programs.
A few tobacco ads remain at the store's front door, but the interior is advertising free.
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Underage drinking gets heightened attention
MSNBC/Union Leader, NH, June 6, 2004
New Hampshire is getting serious about underage drinking this summer.
New enforcement efforts, public awareness campaigns, a party host law, and a statewide strategy group are all targeting a problem that officials say is costing the state more than $200 million a year in crashes, injuries, property crime, violence and alcohol treatment.
State officials estimate underage drinkers consumed 17.5 percent of all alcohol sold in New Hampshire in 2001 - a total of $95 million in sales. They estimate 63,000 young people under 21 drink every year.
Indeed, New Hampshire has already enacted many of the steps to reduce underage alcohol access that were recommended in a landmark Institute of Medicine study that was issued last fall. Among them: Retail compliance checks, keg registration, zero tolerance DWI laws for those under 21, and, new this spring, criminal sanctions for those who host underage drinking parties.
New Futures, a Portsmouth nonprofit advocacy organization, is working with other stakeholders to develop a statewide strategy to combat underage drinking. Educators, policy-makers, state officials and law enforcement leaders were among those who attended a recent working session in Concord to kick off the plan.
See full text of article
More on Youth and Alcohol
Sales show more people drinking the hard stuff
Tennessean, TN, June 5, 2004
The amount of liquor sold nationwide was up about 4% in 2003 as both young Americans and women in particular become more liberal in their spirits drinking. Sales revenue was up 5.3%, reflecting more volume but also more expensive liquor.
In 2003, Americans spent more money on liquor than ever, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Supplier revenue was $13.8 billion last year, a 5.3% increase from the year before.
''Cocktail culture has really taken off here, and it really hasn't been that way since before Prohibition,'' said Shawn Kelley, a spokeswoman for the trade organization. ''Spirits are no longer considered taboo.''
Women are more likely to down a mixed drink as well.
The organization was particularly pleased with the HBO television show Sex and the City, whose New York single women were fashionably dressed and touting martinis much of the time.
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More on Women and Alcohol
Bar Czar' Sought To Keep Eye On Taverns
Wisconsin State Journal, WI, June 5, 2004
A "bar czar" may be watching Madison taverns as the city looks for ways to reduce police costs because of drinking.
The bar czar, or license coordinator, is among a series of suggestions Acting Police Chief Noble Wray makes in a memo to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz to reduce the nearly $1.4 million a year police spend responding to alcohol-related calls Downtown.
On Friday, Cieslewicz shared the memo with City Council and Alcohol License Review Committee members and asked them to consider new alcohol policies to prevent disturbances and violent crimes.
"The idea of the bar czar is to get ahead of some of the problems by first bringing some discussion about best practices," said Mario Mendoza, the mayor's police liaison.
"As the Department's report correctly indicates, effective alcohol policy requires the involvement of a variety of sources, not only the Police Department," Cieslewicz wrote.
Susan Crowley, director of PACE, UW-Madison's effort to stop binge drinking, agreed that alcohol-related crime is a community problem that can't be solved just by police.
See full text of article
More on Women and Alcohol
More the Environmental Prevention Model
Friday,
June 04, 2004
PA School faulted for shot
glass prom favors
Post Intelligencer, WA, Fri, June 4, 2004
SEWICKLEY, Pa. -- Even after getting hard-hitting lessons on the dangers of
underage drinking, Avonworth Senior High School students selected shot glasses
for boys and champagne flutes for girls as prom party favors.
Parents and police are livid over the choice, which the
principal went along with.
"They spent the whole week making children aware of
the dangers of alcohol. Then this contradictory message came
through in the party favors," said Gloria Newman, who
found an embossed champagne glass in her daughter's room
the morning after last week's dance.
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full text of article
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on Alcohol and Youth
The Beer Wars
Concord Monitor, NH, June 4, 2004
It's bad enough that you can't turn on the TV without seeing some politician
spin an opponent's record into an attack ad. Now even the beer commercials
have gone negative.
Take the Budweiser ad where one lizard tells another about
a beer company that "rhymes with Niller." Later
the spokes-animals for the King of Beers dub the competition's
light beer the Queen of Carbs. This, in addition to being
lame stuff for 8-year-olds in a schoolyard, is the barley
and hops equivalent of saying Miller wants to raise your
taxes.
You know where this is headed. To the courts, naturally.
Round One began last week in Milwaukee, when a federal judge
ordered Anheuser-Busch (the maker of Budweiser) to pull posters
saying Miller is owned by South African Breweries. (Miller,
though still run out of Milwaukee, is owned by a London-based
spinoff of South African Breweries.) The same judge will
hear arguments later this month about the "Queen of
Carbs" ads.
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full text of article
The Wasted Years
Universitybusiness.com, June 4, 2004
College presidents say that changing the culture of drinking on campus has been
their gravest challenge. Whether they are up to the task is another question
altogether.
If the basics of K-12 education are the three R's--reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic--are
the three V's of higher education vandalism, vomit, and violence? It's a horrendous
image, but the fact of the matter is that these campus horrors are on the rise,
and the statistics tell all...
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article
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on Preventing Alcohol Problems on College Campuses
Anheuser-Busch makes bid for Harbin
Business Journal, WI, June 4, 2004
Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. has offered $5.58 per share in Hong Kong dollars
for the outstanding shares of Harbin Brewery Group Ltd. in China, a nearly 30
percent premium over what Miller Brewing Co. owner SABMiller plc is offering,
Anheuser-Busch said Tuesday.
The offer would result in Anheuser-Busch owning more than 50 percent of the
issued voting share capital of China's fourth-largest brewer.
St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. is the world's largest brewer. It also
owns a stake in Tsingtao, China's largest brewer; a 29 percent stake in Harbin
Brewery Group; and owns 98 percent of the Budweiser Wuhan International Brewing
Co., in Wuhan, China, where Budweiser is brewed.
See
full text of article
Thursday, June 3, 2004
Lawyer drops suit against Coors in man’s death
Reno Gazette Journal, NV ,June 2, 2004
After being threatened with sanctions for frivolous litigation, a Reno lawyer said Tuesday he has dropped a lawsuit against Coors Brewing Co. filed for the mother of a young man who died in a car wreck while driving drunk.
Ken McKenna, a lawyer for Jodie Pisco of Reno, said he had filed the suit to challenge at the Supreme Court level a Nevada law that protects alcohol providers from being sued.
But when a lawyer for Coors threatened him and Pisco with sanctions, they decided to back off, he said.
“After doing some research, we decided that the Supreme Court is unlikely to be inclined politically to overturn the protection for alcohol distributors,” McKenna
said.
“Her motivation all along was to shed some light on the fact that alcohol companies do, in fact, advertise their products to minors,” he
said.
The suit filed April 14 in Washoe District Court claimed Colorado-based Coors
was liable for Ryan Pisco’s death because it promotes underage drinking
and encourages illegal alcohol consumption at sporting events, a claim the company
adamantly denies.
See full text of article
More on the Other Lawsuits Against the Alcohol Industry
Alcohol-free youth, whose responsibility?
Silverton Appeal Tribune, OR, June 3, 2004
It’s a community and parent responsibility to uphold laws and norms that support young people maturing into adulthood unscathed by “rites of passage” that can lead to alcohol poisoning, blackouts, unwanted sexual advances or rape, and near-miss, injury, and fatal intoxicated driver crashes. We cannot put all responsibility onto law enforcement. As parents, community members, and owners of stores that sell alcohol, have you done all you can to support and ensure youth make healthy decisions about alcohol? How easily accessible is alcohol in your home, at your children’s friends’ homes, or elsewhere in the community?
Over the last 12 months, a countywide task force has been working to gain the support of local law enforcement jurisdictions, alcohol vendors, and the community to enforce regular, frequent and consistent monitoring of alcohol sales to prevent minors from purchasing. Currently, CERV (Committed Enforcement for Responsible Vendors) has commitments from the Salem, Keizer, Woodburn, Stayton, and Marion County Sheriff law enforcement agencies to participate in CERV activities, such as conducting quarterly minor decoy operations to ensure that licensed alcohol vendors are properly training their staff to check ID and ensure that minors cannot purchase alcohol. Similar efforts have reduced tobacco sales to minors by 31.5 percent in five years in Salem and Keizer.
The CERV model focuses on engaging neighborhoods, training law enforcement as alcohol enforcement specialists, conducting quarterly countywide minor decoy operations, and promoting OLCC’s Responsible Vendor Program.
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Teens Victimized by Upswing in Alcohol Ads, OTC Drug Abuse
Agape Press, MS, June 3, 2004
Alcohol companies are putting far more ad revenue into their product ads than they are into encouraging consumers to use their products responsibly. At the same time, the Partnership for a Drug Free America is warning of a growing number of forms of prescription drug abuse among teens.
A new study says 2002 saw a dramatic increase in alcohol product advertising and a sharp decline in "responsibility" ads. The study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University finds that there were 226 product ads for every ad that the alcohol industry aired warning of negative things that might happen from consuming their product. Anheuser Busch, the largest alcohol advertiser on TV, ran nearly 45,000 product ads in 2002.
Dr. David Jernigan, the Center's research director. Says the spike in product ads can be attributed to a number of factors. One factor, he says, is that the Olympic Games were held that year.
"There's always a bump-up in advertising in the Olympic years," Jernigan explains. "Also that's the year that the alcohol companies were really trying to push out these new flavored malt beverages -- like 'Bacardi Silver,' or 'Smirnoff Ice,' or 'Mike's Hard Lemonade.'"
Jernigan says a national media campaign about alcohol is a solution to the obvious -- alcohol companies cannot be the ones sending a responsibility message about their product. In 2002, for every dollar spent on responsibility ads, the alcohol industry spent $99 on ads touting their products.
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More on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Seattle may expand restrictions on cheap alcohol sales
KING5.com, WA, May 31, 2004
This week, Seattle City Council members are expected to review steps toward expanding the restrictions on the sale of cheap alcohol to neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, the International District, First Hill, the Central Area, Downtown, Belltown, Queen Anne and parts of Wallingford and the University District.
Some vendors at Pike Place Market believe expanding city restrictions on cheap-alcohol are long over due.
The city would ask stores to take steps to curtail public drunkenness. If there's no improvement in six months, they city could ask the state liquor control board to enact restrictions on the sale of cheap booze.
Advocates of the restrictions on cheap alcohol say it's only one piece of the puzzle. They agree more treatment is needed. Starting Tuesday, Seattle City Council members are expected to review a plan to restrict the sale of cheap alcohol to more neighborhoods.
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More on Alcohol Outlet Density
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City may raise the bar on alcohol rules
San Marcos Daily Record, TX, June 2, 2004
Selling alcohol for on-premise consumption in San Marcos could soon be a more complicated business. San Marcos bars must obtain a specific use permit (SUP) before they can sell alcoholic beverages, and city rules must be followed in order to keep the permit.
Amendments discussed by the City Council last week could increase the number of "penalty points" that businesses could be charged with for failing to adhere to the rules.
Proposals include lowering the blood alcohol level at which establishments must refuse to sell to intoxicated patrons. The sale of alcohol to a minor and allowing riotous or disorderly public behavior could also affect conditions of their TABC license and their specific use permit.
"Basically, a demerit system is in place," City Manager Dan O'Leary said. "Six or more penalty points and the owner must appear before the Planning and Zoning Commission. Their permit could potentially be revoked."
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Alcohol Sellers Face Backlash in European Union
Los Angeles Times, CA, May 30, 2004
DUBLIN - Alcoholic beverage companies have traditionally resisted calls for uniform drinking regulations across the European Union, arguing that cultural attitudes vary across different markets. But alarm at the growing incidence of binge drinking is forcing even the most reluctant EU governments to consider changes to the way the industry polices itself.
A year ago, when Bertie Ahern's frustrations first surfaced, the Irish prime minister used a speech to the European Brewery Convention to challenge the industry to tackle binge drinking. He said that if not for EU internal market rules, his government would ban the sale of "alcopops," such as Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi Breezer, and suggested that companies refuse to "produce, import, distribute or sell shot-type drinks or sweet fruit alcoholic drinks, which are clearly targeted at young people."
The real concern of the industry is that the Irish government may be planning more draconian steps, perhaps even banning alcohol advertising.
Ireland's changing demographic profile means beverage makers must increasingly pitch their advertising effort toward the younger drinker. Donald Helme, chief executive of Grey Helme, a subsidiary of New York ad agency Grey Advertising, recalls that in earlier Diageo ads, drinking Guinness was depicted as a sort of rite of passage and only properly appreciated by the more discerning, more mature consumer. In recent years, faced with falling sales and the competition posed by alcopops, even Guinness is geared toward a younger drinker.
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More on Diageo Targeting Younger Drinkers
Tuesday, June 1, 2004
Court uncorks a case of wine and free trade
Tennessean, TN, June 1, 2004
...The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to settle a constitutional conflict that has kept direct sales of alcohol bottled up for many imbibers.
The Constitution's commerce clause protects interstate trade. When the commodity being traded is alcohol, however, that freedom goes out the window. The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, gives states authority to regulate alcohol.
Twenty states, including Tennessee, now prohibit the direct shipment of wine to consumers across state lines. Those state bans have become increasingly irritating to consumers as Internet sales have tremendously increased direct sales of all other goods. The bans have also been particularly vexing to the growing number of small wineries. The large wineries sell their products through distributors so they are relatively unaffected by the no-shipping laws, but smaller wineries that market their goods through the Internet find themselves locked out of many states.
As these bans on alcohol shipping have been challenged in court, states have argued that direct shipment of wine would encourage underage drinking...
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Adults Targeted For Underage Drinking
Boston Channel, MA, May 31, 2004
Law enforcement officials are targeting adults who allow underaged youths to drink alcohol under their watch in response to several cases of teenage drinking parties, including one that may have contributed to a 16-year-old boy's death in December.
The Boston Globe reported Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and his fellow Massachusetts district attorneys are pushing for a bill that would suspend for two years the license of anyone convicted of allowing minors to drink.
The current maximum penalties are one year in prison or a $2,000 fine.
Increasingly, police are charging parents whose children are hosting the drinking parties with furnishing alcohol to minors even if they did not purchase the alcohol.
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Making Adults Responsible for Underage Drinking Parties
Alcohol at sports park on hold
Redding Record Searchlight, CA, May 29, 2004
Neighbor of Big League Dreams objects to liquor license request. The Big League Dreams sports park might open without suds in late June.
A neighbor has protested the east Redding park's liquor license application, said Robert Farrar, Redding district supervisor for the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC).
State officials have yet to deny Big League Dreams a liquor license after a protest, Odekirk said.
ABC officers will broker a possible deal between the neighbor, who wasn't identified, and Big League Dreams, Farrar said. The agreement could include limiting alcohol sales hours to ensure neighborhood peace.
An administrative law judge will hear the dispute if the two sides can't agree, Farrar said. That step could push the park's liquor license back to October or November -- well past the park's celebrity-laden Aug. 1 grand opening.
The neighbor or Big League Dreams may appeal the judge's decision. An appeal could keep sports park taps dry until late 2005.
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More on Changing the Alcohol Environment at Public Events
Chandler city councils says no to wine sales at Target
KNXV, AZ, May 29, 2004
The Chandler City Council is putting a cork in idea of allowing a Target store to sell wine.
The council voted 5-to-2 this week to deny a use permit and recommended denial of a liquor license for the Chandler Target. A city use permit would have allowed the Target to sell alcohol.
Target has applied for a state liquor license which would have allowed it to sell only beer and wine. Councilman Dean Anderson says the vote was not a vote against the Target store. He just believes there is already a proliferation of liquor sales in the area.
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More on Alcohol Outlet Density
Friday, May 28, 2004
North Beach (SF) screeching
San Francisco Examiner, CA, May 27, 2004
Organizers of the North Beach Festival are not feeling so festive these days.
Under attack from police, restaurateurs and residents, the festival has been stripped of one of its beer gardens and is facing accusations that it has lost touch with the neighborhood and exaggerated its charitable contributions.
In total, 53 neighborhood businesses have signed on to a petition asking event organizers, led by the North Beach Chamber of Commerce, to cut back its alcohol sales, give 25 percent of festival proceeds to a local nonprofit and disclose detailed financial statements.
The petition suggests the festival, scheduled this year for June 19-20, has been marred by "over-intensity and saturation of alcohol" and that the eight-block celebration is no longer reflective of the small, quirky Italian-American neighborhood.
"I think a lot of people in the neighborhood would like to see it de-accelerate, and not be as much about corporate sponsors and beer gardens and drinking," said City Lights Books co-owner Nancy Peters.
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More on changing the alcohol environment at public festivals
Georgia Tech, City of Atlanta Announce Alcohol Server Training Program
AScribe Newswire, May 27, 2004
Atlanta bar, restaurant and nightclub owners have a new tool to help employees sell alcohol responsibly. Georgia Tech is offering a free online training program for managers and servers of alcohol in Atlanta to help them reduce underage drinking and sales to intoxicated patrons before they get behind the wheel. The program was announced by Georgia Tech and Atlanta City Councilmember H. Lamar Willis at a press conference yesterday at City Hall.
The first of its kind in Georgia, the Responsible Alcohol Sales and Server (RASS) training program is being run by Tech's GT SMART program, a campus-community coalition dedicated to reducing high-risk drinking. The program was developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Last year, two fatal shootings in an Atlanta's entertainment district prompted the city to pass legislation requiring bars to close at 3 a.m., one hour earlier. Currently, neither the state, nor the city require servers to pass an alcohol training course.
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Elgin, IL council OKs ethnic drinks for fests
Courier News, IL, May 28, 2004
If Elgin, IL, turns into Margaritaville, there won't be a woman to blame - just a group of five city officials.
The drink glorified by singer Jimmy Buffett will be included in this year's Fiesta Salsa activities thanks to a special provision allowing ethnic beverages to be served at local bars and festivals. The city council approved the provision in a 5-1 vote Wednesday night, with Councilman Tom Sandor opposing it.
"I think it just sends out the wrong message that alcohol is an integral part of these events," he said.
The vote established a new liquor license classification that will allow special events to sell one ethnic beverage along with beer and wine. A similar allowance will be made for ethnic restaurants. Sandor voted in favor of that measure.
Sandor and Councilwoman Brenda Rodgers, who later voted for the measure, said they were concerned because of the greater alcohol content in margaritas compared with beer and wine.
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More on battling the promotion of "ethnic" alcohol products
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Alcohol Ads Outnumber Responsibility Ads 226 to 1
CAMY, May 26, 2004
Washington, DC - Alcohol industry "responsibility" advertising on television declined substantially in 2002 from 2001, while alcohol product advertising increased significantly over the same period, according to a new study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University.
"Responsibility" ads have as their primary focus a clear, unambiguous message warning against driving after drinking, encouraging use of a designated driver, advising viewers to drink responsibly, or informing them about the legal drinking age of 21.
In 2002, the number of "responsibility" ads dropped by 46% from 2001 levels, while the number of alcohol commercials increased by 39%. Industry spending on responsibility advertising also fell dramatically—down 57% from 2001.
"This minimal amount of responsibility advertising does little to reinforce the messages of parents and teachers who are trying to prevent underage drinking. Our children need to receive a more balanced message about alcohol," said Jim O'Hara, CAMY executive director.
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More on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
Liquor License Poses Roadblock for Longs
Berkeley Daily Planet, CA, May 25, 2004
For a city whose downtown recently has been characterized more by empty storefronts than thriving shops, Longs Drugs offers Berkeley an enticing opportunity.
Aside from its standard inventory of pain relievers, packaged food and beauty supplies, the national chain estimates it would provide $100,000 in sales tax revenue in downtown Berkeley...
But Berkeley doesn’t want everything Longs has to offer. Unlike most chain drug stores, Longs sells beer and wine, and company executives have insisted the proposed store at 2300 Shattuck Ave. at the corner of Bancroft Way-700 feet from Berkeley High School-not be an exception.
For Ed Kikumoto, a community organizer for the Oakland-based Alcohol Policy Network, the only figure that matters is the 700 feet the store would sit from the high school.
Despite Longs’ assurances of technological surveillance, Kikumoto argued that chain stores, in general, pose a bigger risk than convenience stores like the E-Z Stop Deli one block away that sells liquor in addition to beer and wine. “With a small store you can hold the owner accountable, but bigger stores have difficulty controlling their clerks,” he said. There have been several documented instances, Kikumoto added, in which clerks in a chain store have sold alcoholic beverages to their friends.
But according to the results of a recent Berkeley and UC Police sting operation, shopkeepers aren’t putting up a lot of resistance to teenagers thirsty for alcohol. A March sweep found that 14 of 26 targeted stores were willing to sell to minors-five times the average violation rate.
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More on Calif. Liquor Licenses
More on Alcohol Outlet Density Affecting Youth
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Movie Drinking Influences Teens
KRON, CA, May 26, 2004
Watching too many movies that show people drinking may increase the odds that junior high schools students will experiment with alcohol, say Dartmouth Medical School researchers.
They found that junior high school students in New Hampshire and Vermont who viewed numerous movie scenes featuring alcohol use were more than three times as likely to try alcohol than peers who saw few such scenes, the Associated Press reports.
The study is the first to focus on the effect that drinking in movies has on teens. It was presented at a symposium on substance abuse. Previous research examining the effects of alcohol advertising on teens has produced conflicting findings.
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More on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
All-nighters are alcohol free
AZ Central.com, AZ, May, 24, 2004
Dubbed Project Graduation and held at high school across the Scottsdale Unified School District, the parties have become the "in" place to be on graduation night. Parties begin after graduation and end around 4, 5 or 6 a.m., depending upon the school. Some parties are free while others charge admission, but students who are unable to pay aren't turned away.
Most Project Graduation parties in Arizona got their start in the past 15 years. The local parties are part of a national trend with the goal of providing a safe, supervised place where students can gather to celebrate.
Attractions include all-you-can-eat food and prizes, ranging from digital cameras to dorm-room refrigerators. Hypnotists and caricature artists are popular draws at some parties. Donations from local businesses range from free carwash coupons to a day at the spa. Parents are the keys to the success.
"Since 1991, when Arcadia started to have private parties, there have been no drug- or alcohol-related accidents on graduation night," said Ames McGarey, mother of Arcadia senior Christie McGarey and one of the party organizers.
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Tuesday, May 25, 2004
In Its Long War With Brewers, Liquor Industry Gets Aggressive
The Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2004
After decades of losing out to beer, the U.S. liquor industry is fighting back. The main reason: In Diageo, it finally has a player strong enough to go head-to-head against longtime beer titan Anheuser-Busch Cos. Diageo, which snapped up most of Seagram Co. three years ago, now controls about 27% of the U.S. liquor market. That huge stake has given the company the marketing muscle and political clout to begin changing the laws and competitive dynamics that have held liquor back since the end of Prohibition.
Over the decades, beer companies have flooded the airwaves with commercials and plied Congress and statehouses with lobbyists. Producers of hard liquor have played a less-aggressive game. They feared that pushing their product too hard would spur a backlash in a country where liquor has had a bad image.
Diageo now is launching an unapologetic battle to bring liquor back, and has won a number of big victories along the way. It has helped persuade nine states -- including Massachusetts, New York and Oregon -- to allow some form of liquor sales on Sundays, raising the total number of such states to 30. It now has a presence in every state capital, where beer lobbyists have long outnumbered their liquor rivals.
Diageo has been less successful in its efforts to get around the longstanding unofficial ban on advertising liquor on national television. Two years ago, NBC canceled a sponsorship deal with the liquor maker, citing pressure from advocacy groups.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (the industry's lobbying group) works especially hard to get positive stories about liquor in state-capital newspapers. For example, it got coverage in the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News about its collaboration with Mount Vernon to reconstruct George Washington's distillery at a cost of $1.5 million.
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Proposal might let stores raise liquor prices
Michigan State News, MI, May 24, 2004
A proposed law allowing higher retail liquor prices may give your alcohol budget a sobering buzz.
The bill, if passed through the state Senate and subsequently approved by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, would allow liquor retailers to raise their prices above the state-mandated minimums, though stores couldn't sell below that level.
The move comes at a time when Michigan liquor sales are peaking, especially among younger drinkers who prefer hot-selling flavored liquors like raspberry, orange, vanilla and lemon vodkas, said Rich McCarius.
In fact, the number of varieties of distilled spirits has spiked to about 4,500 this year from about 1,700 in 1997.
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Monday, May 24, 2004
Fair board can't cruise on decision
Chillicothe Gazette, OH, May 23, 2004
It's not like people didn't know what the Cruisefest Nationals were all about. The reputation of the event goes everywhere it goes and preceded its arrival at the Ross County Fairgrounds in 2003.
More than a year ago, the Gazette did a story on the checkered past of the car show. In it, a Columbus-area woman complained about the drinking and debauchery that went along with the "tricked out" vehicles and thumping stereos.
One portion of the event's Web site features photos of scantily clad and topless women, and Ross County Fair Board President Rick Ginther admits the reason why the event's contract must be renewed annually is so they can "pull the plug" if it gets out of hand.
But with more than 50 arrests for underage drinking, the deaths of three people linked to the event and the general headaches caused by the event's attendees, will that be enough to overcome the more than $2 million estimated to be brought into town by the event?
The fair board will take on that question at a key meeting June 7, at which there will be no shortage of opinions on the event's good and bad points.
Ginther and the board are taking the right approach. They're interested in hearing from all involved -- business owners, the sheriff and local residents -- before making their decision.
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Beer Company To Suspend Ads Seen As Offensive To Hispanics
KMGH, CO, May 21, 2004
LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. distributor of a Mexican beer says it will pull a bunch of billboard ads next month -- after they were criticized as being offensive to the Hispanic community.
The billboards feature a leaning bottle of Tecate beer with the tag line: "Finally, A Cold Latina."
Critics said the ad perpetuates negative stereotypes of Hispanic women as being loose or overly sexual.
Last week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent a letter to Labatt USA, asking for the ads to be pulled. In a statement this week, Labatt said it will pull the ads by the end of the month. The company adds, though, that the ads were supposed to end their run at that time.
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More on the Tecate Beer Billboards
Don’t celebrate alcohol rise
Detroit News, MI, May 23, 2004
The recent article, “Michigan downs liquor quicker” (May 16), is nothing less than misguided. Problems associated with alcohol abuse such as alcoholism, drunk driving, homelessness, domestic violence and underage drinking are contributing factors in Michigan’s struggle to become a healthier state. A 38 percent increase in alcohol sales is nothing to celebrate.
Unfortunately, the majority of the sources for this unbalanced report were with bar owners, liquor store managers, bartenders and alcohol industry spokespeople.
It is inconceivable that double-digit increases in alcohol consumption would warrant front page headlines only days after the alcohol-related death of Bloomfield Township Police Officer Gary Davis. The loss of his life is a glaring reminder that we can never minimize the devastating effects of alcohol abuse.
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Friday, May 21, 2004
Students examine drinking and its effects
News Journal, DE, May 20, 2004
A group of students from the University of Delaware has taken a hard look at the alcohol industry in Newark and students' role in it.
They said they were surprised by what they found, including how much money is made from student beer consumption, the sometimes lax enforcement of liquor laws and how bars in Newark can get around the prohibition on offering drink specials.
"I think it will be an eye opener," said Beth Thompson, 22, a senior and the executive producer of a 35-minute documentary called "Behind Bars."
Samara Passo, 21, a segment producer and reporter for the documentary, said she was shocked at the profit margin and volume of beer sales locally. Though Delaware's population is about 800,000, the Yuengling Brewery alone sells over 12 million bottles of beer in the state, with Newark being a top sales spot, according to the documentary. And Passo said a bottle of beer that sells for $3 on Main Street can be produced for as little as 50 cents. Students also interviewed Newark bartenders who make as much as $1,000 a week.
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Brewers may pay for drunkenness, says Blair
UK Guardian, May 21, 2004
The prime minister yesterday warned the alcohol industry that unless it did more to curb binge drinking it would be forced to pay for dealing with drunken behaviour.
Mr. Blair threw his weight behind the drive against alcohol abuse, which the government believes is responsible for nearly half the violent crime in Britain.
In his first major speech on the subject, he told a London seminar called to discuss the national alcohol strategy that the problem was in danger of becoming "a new British disease".
He urged the drinks industry to avoid advertising campaigns that glamorised alcohol and attracted under-age drinkers, and warned that if voluntary action did not work companies would face levies to cover the costs of additional policing, street cleaning and late transport.
"The government is working with the industry on the development of a social responsibility scheme which may well include some financial contribution to the costs of policing our town centres and tackling some of the costs of alcohol misuse," Mr. Blair said.
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Advertising: New skirmishes in the light beer wars
Naples Daily News, FL, New York Times News Service, May 21, 2004
The battle between the brewers of the Budweiser and Miller brand lines over the carbohydrate content of beers is taking a new, nasty turn.
Carbohydrates became part of the beer wars in 2002 when Anheuser-Busch introduced a low-carbohydrate beer called Michelob Ultra (with 2.6 grams in 12 ounces, compared with 10.6 for Budweiser). The fight is illustrative of two big questions that have long vexed Madison Avenue. Simply put, if your brand is a leader, how do you respond to challenger brands without seeming like a petulant braggart fearful of legitimate rivalry? And by the same token, if your brand is a challenger, do you attack the leader, running the risk of seeming insecure or desperate, giving the leader even more publicity?
Robert Mikulay, executive vice president for marketing at Miller, sent a note to distributors Thursday in which he described the "queen of carbs" remarks as meant to "denigrate consumer concern about carbs" and "position Miller Lite as being simply a carb-centric brand." Others were taken aback by the remarks.
"This to me says only women or 'girly men' have to watch their carbs because they have to be thin," said Terry O'Neill, a vice president at the National Organization for Women in Washington. "It's a little homophobic, and sexist," she added, "but for the alcohol industry, that ain't nothing new."
Glennda Testone, media director at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in New York, said she believed the slogan "is pretty overtly sexist," because it implies being a king is better than being a queen, "and one step away from being homophobic," because the word queen can be used as an epithet to describe an effeminate man.
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More on Beer Industry and Low-Carb Beer
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Nearly 20 percent of businesses fail compliance checks
Fairmont Sentinel, MN, May 20, 2004
Six Fairmont businesses failed recent alcohol compliance checks, while another business was reportedly selling alcohol without a proper license.
The Fairmont Police Department completed more than 30 alcohol compliance checks in the past month on businesses licensed to sell alcohol, which include bars, restaurants, convenience stores and the municipal liquor store. The compliance checks were conducted by young adults under the age of 21 under the direct supervision of plain clothes Fairmont police officers.
"The high failure rate shown by this latest round of alcohol compliance checks is disappointing," said Fairmont Police Chief Greg Brolsma. "It's disturbing that almost 20 percent of businesses licensed to sell alcohol within Fairmont failed, although the majority of businesses did an excellent job by refusing to sell to our underage buyers. These latest compliance checks help identify the importance and need for consistent enforcement and education of alcohol sales and laws."
The employees caught selling alcohol to minors were referred to the Martin County Attorney for criminal prosecution. Providing alcohol to a minor is a gross misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.
"We recognize that selling alcohol is a legitimate business that plays a valid role in our community," Brolsma said. "Selling alcohol is a privilege that has very specific responsibilities attached to it and we ask that businesses fulfill those responsibilities consistently."
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The U.S. Beer Drinking Team Taps McMahon Media To Spearhead National And International Broadcast Syndication Expansion For Beer Radio
PR Web, May 20, 2004
Severna Park, MD (PRWEB)-- After an arduous national search, the producers of Beer Radio ~ The Official Radio Program for the U.S. Beer Drinking Team (USBDT) have selected McMahon Media to spearhead national and international syndication expansion for Beer Radio.
Beer Radio is the only national radio program dedicated to the 90,000,000 passionate beer drinkers who spend $75 billion dollars per year in the USA each year. Beer Radio celebrates "your best beer on your best day with your best friends". Beer Radio’s legendary host, “Big Don” O’Brien and his beer buddies talk about "everything beer" including Budweiser, Miller and Coors, as well as great microbrews and international beers. Segments include: Beer and Sports, Beer and Music, Beer Careers, Cooking with Beer, Beer and Fitness, Defenders of Beer, Draft Report, Home Brew, Think B4U Drink! and more. Beer Radio broadcasts during Saturday sports and tailgating drive-time from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM (eastern). A 90 second daily vignette called "The Beer Minute" will be included in each affiliate package.
"The beer industry is one of the largest advertisers in the country," stated Ms. McMahon. "Beer and radio are a natural fit. We wonder why no one else is doing this. Beer Radio will clear in any market and is designed for talk, sports, rock, CHR and other formats.”
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Belmont Parents get eye-opener on drug abuse by young kids
San Francisco Chronicle, May 20, 2004
Belmont parents gathered Wednesday, nearly a month after a 14-year- old girl died from ingesting ecstasy, to hear public safety officials talk about the realities of drug and alcohol abuse.
About 200 parents attended the sobering presentation at Carlmont High School. It was organized by officials from the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District and the Belmont Police Department in response to the ecstasy death of Ralston Middle School student eighth-grader Irma Perez.
The parents heard from members of the task force who talked about new drug trends, paraphernalia, risks and ways of talking about drug use with their children. Police brought photographs of overdose victims. School district officials hoped the message would help parents find an opportunity to talk to their children about drugs and alcohol.
Belmont Safe Schools, a cooperative effort between the Police Department and local schools, organized two similar education meetings last month but both attracted no more than 50 parents. "Use this as a teaching moment, a learning opportunity for all of us," said Superintendent John McIntosh on Wednesday night. "This is a community problem. It's a community issue. We need to work together to solve it."
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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Diana Griego Erwin: Outrage spreads over beer billboards that stereotype Latin women
Sacramento Bee, CA, May 18, 2004
Finally. A cold Latina." - Tecate beer advertisement. This is how a movement is made. One person stands up, followed by another and another. So it is with the growing protest over the sexist Tecate beer billboard implying that all Latinas are "hot." Hot-blooded. Hot, sexy.
Basically, (they're) equating beer with sex," she said. No big news there. Check out in-store advertising in liquor stores sometime, most of it featuring models wearing little besides a come-hither expression.
Researchers who've analyzed the advertising practices of the alcohol industry say there's reason to be concerned, particularly when it comes to the impact on teens and children. A 1997 study by the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science found that the concentration of alcohol ads depicting Latinas as sexual objects in a neighborhood leads to increased violence against Latina teenagers.
The Labatt statement went on to say the company is analyzing the feedback and would come to some sort of decision this week. Comments can be e-mailed to the company at cervezatecate@beerdesk.com, or there's a form you can fill out at its Web site, www.labatt.com.
Labatt is a big player in the beer industry. The Canadian brewing concern's brands include Rolling Rock, Labatt Blue, Canadian Ale and Kokanee, and the company distributes Lowenbrau, Dos Equis, Sol, Carta Blanca and other beers.
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More on Latino groups protesting offensive billboards for Tecate beer
Parents of dead teen sue eatery over booze
San Diego Union-Tribune, CA, May 19, 2004
The parents of a Vista teenager who was killed last year in an alcohol-related crash are suing to suspend a restaurant's liquor license for not cutting off drinks to the man who drove the vehicle.
In a draft lawsuit, which lawyers plan to file today in Superior Court, John and Susan Tryon contend that Oggi's Pizza & Brewing Co. violated state law by continuing to serve alcohol to Ryan Nielsen, 21, even though he was "obviously intoxicated."
According to the lawsuit, the county Medical Examiner's Office determined that Nielsen had a blood-alcohol level of .18 of a percent, more than twice the legal limit of .08 of a percent.
Because of that, the lawsuit contends, Nielsen would probably have shown outward signs of intoxication at the restaurant, such as slurred speech, difficulty walking or bloodshot eyes. Despite this, the lawsuit says, receipts show employees continued to serve him alcohol.
Various nonprofit organizations that focus on alcohol and drug prevention have joined the Tryons in the lawsuit. Among them are the North Coastal Prevention Coalition, the San Diego County Policy Panel on Youth Access to Alcohol, the California Council on Alcohol Policy and the Trauma Foundation.
"What the complaint is seeking to do is enhance the alcohol service at bars and restaurants such as Oggi's," said Anne Browne, one of the lawyers for the Tryons.
Susan Tryon, Eric's mother, said in an interview yesterday that she hopes the lawsuit will send a message to restaurant owners and consumers about dealing with alcohol responsibly...
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More Info on Other Lawsuits Against the Alcohol Industry
'Rocklin Jubilee' Decides To Limit Alcohol Sales
MSNBC / KCRA, CA, May 18, 2004
The city of Rocklin wants to keep an annual summer festival "family-friendly," so, it's limiting the amount of alcohol sales at the event.
Each year, the Rocklin Jubilee attracts thousands of people. This summer, attendance is expected to reach close to 25,000.
City officials say they've dealt with several alcohol-related incidents in the past, which is why they're limiting alcohol sales.
"As the community grows and the event grows, it becomes important to try to control that activity so that the families that come to enjoy the event are not disrupted by some obnoxious individual who is abusing alcohol. It's also an attempt to control underage drinking," said Rocklin City Manager Carlos Urrutia.
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Liquor commission OKs licenses for 3 gas stations
Peoria Journal Star, IL, May 18, 2004
The Peoria Liquor Commission approved requests for three local gas stations to sell alcohol but rejected two others because they are too close to neighborhoods.
The City Council will vote on all five liquor license requests at its June 1 meeting. City Liquor Commissioner and At-large Councilman Eric Turner believes the council also will oppose liquor sales at the two gas stations abutting neighborhoods.
"I think today showed why this process works," Turner said. "The ones that passed were in busy commercial areas. The ones that didn't directly abutted neighborhoods."
Even though Road Ranger, at the corner of University Street and War Memorial Drive, explained how they conduct their own "stings" three times a month to ensure there are no sales of alcohol and tobacco to underage patrons, the commissioners sided with the two neighbors who testified against them.
The commission also recommended denial for the Speedway station, 3124 N. Prospect Road, after several residents testified in opposition. Speedway withdrew requests for liquor licenses at two other gas stations, saying one was too small and the other was next to a church.
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Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Advertisers woo child consumers
SunHerald.com, MS, May 18, 2004
In an American culture built on consumer spending, how young is too young to advertise to children?
That's a hotly debated question, even among people who earn their living marketing to children: 61 percent of those involved in the industry said that advertising to children starts at too young an age, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive.
Not everyone agrees. "Marketing to young children is at some level inherently unfair because children 7 and younger don't understand the fantasy/reality distinction the same way adults do," said Dr. Douglas Gentile, a psychology professor at Iowa State University and research director at the National Institute on Media and the Family, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group.
Gentile is ambivalent about toys and age-appropriate products being marketed to young children, but he's clear in his antipathy towards tobacco and alcohol advertising. Seventh- through 12th-graders are strongly affected by beer ads, according to one study he conducted.
"Budweiser, in the seventh- through 12th-grade sample, has 99 percent brand awareness. There are almost no other companies in the world with 99 percent brand awareness," he said. "It's really amazing when you think that this product is illegal for them."
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More on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
Bid for alcohol sales loses
Boston Globe, MA, May 16, 2004
By a 30-vote margin, Weston Town Meeting decided Wednesday to uphold the town's longstanding ban on alcohol sales. Weston remains one of only 17 communities in Massachusetts that outlaw the sale of alcohol.
The question of lifting the town's ban on booze was prompted by Kara Kardon, a 41-year-old mother of three who sought to open a wine shop in Weston Center. The issue had not been addressed for at least 25 years, according to town officials. Kardon said allowing alcohol sales would help nonprofit fund-raising events, attract customers to local businesses, and make shopping more convenient for residents.
But most voters at Town Meeting disagreed. After more than an hour of vigorous debate, the majority of residents voted against the article, which lost 97 to 67.
Many opponents noted that several large wine and liquor stores are located a few miles away in neighboring communities, such as Waltham and Newton.
Mary Ellen Sikes said if wine and beer were to be sold in town, "the costs would outweigh the benefits," and noted, with tears in her eyes, that convenient access to alcohol could be detrimental to children, as well as alcoholics and their families.
"It's my fear that if alcohol is present, children will be tempted to shoplift," Sikes said. "If the town of Weston is about community, why is alcohol in this equation at all?"
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Lawsuits target alcohol industry
USA Today, May, 13, 2004
Consumers' attorneys across the nation have begun to target the alcoholic beverage industry, filing lawsuits that claim that some leading brewers and distillers are using slick advertising to sell products to underage drinkers.
Some legal analysts say the alcohol lawsuits seem less likely to succeed because of generally positive public attitudes about alcohol and because research has raised doubts about a link between ads and underage drinking.
In November, attorneys led by David Boies III of Fairfax, Va., filed suit in state court in Charlotte against brewers Coors and Heineken, distillers Diageo and Bacardi and the makers of Zima and Mike's Hard Lemonade, two flavored alcoholic beverages, or "alcopops."
Boies' lawsuits allege that alcohol companies place ads in magazines such as Stuff, FHM and Spin that appeal to males under age 21, or in Glamour, which is oriented toward females of similar ages.
All are designed to push people younger than 21 to obtain alcohol illegally, the lawsuit claims. The lawsuits also say alcohol companies encourage underage drinking by posting rules for drinking games on company Web sites, and by placing their products in movies aimed at those under 21.
The alcohol companies are fighting back. They are trying to have the cases moved from state courts to federal courts. The companies believe federal rules improve their chances by, among other things, making it more difficult for class-action cases to succeed.
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More Info on the Lawsuits
Monday, May 17, 2004
New Site Provides Summaries of Research on Alcohol and Health
Join Together, May 14, 2004
Alcohol and Health: Current Evidence is a new, free web resource from Boston University that provides summaries of the latest clinically relevant research on alcohol and health, particularly in the area of health disparities.
The research summaries, published bimonthly, are written by physicians with clinical, research, and educational expertise in alcohol-related issues, and include commentary relevant to primary care practice.
The newsletter, a project of the Boston Medical Center, is a product of the Alcohol Clinical Training Project. It is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and produced in cooperation with the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health.
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Sides form on alcohol proposal
Dallas Morning News, TX, May 15, 2004
Alcohol sales have been a hot issue in Irving, attracting attention of City Council candidates, most of whom oppose the effort. But opponents will have to compete against Irving Citizens for Economic Growth, a well-financed organization that has the support of various business and homeowner groups.
Supporters say beer and wine sales in grocery and convenience stores would help keep more sales tax revenue in Irving's coffers. But opponents say beer and wine sales will harm the city's quality of life.
Central and south Irving would be particularly vulnerable, they say. They believe beer and wine sales would burden police officers, who would have to monitor stores for sales to underage customers.
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Friday, May 14, 2004
Lightning promotion draws opposition
Associated Press, May 12, 2004
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning's promotion offering free beer to season ticket buyers drew the ire of safe-driving advocates, and the team said Wednesday that it will not offer similar promotions in the future.
During the first Eastern Conference playoff game between the Lightning and the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, the St. Pete Times Forum's main scoreboard advertised the offer. Those who paid $100 toward 2004-05 season tickets were eligible for free beer during the game.
The Lightning clarified their promotion Wednesday, saying the team offered four free coupons -- each redeemable for a 12-ounce beer -- to those making ticket deposits at Saturday's game only. The organization said the promotion will not be used again.
Police and several area chapters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving said the hockey team's offer was irresponsible. "Why attach alcohol to a season-ticket plan? It's almost encouraging people to drink more than they should because it is free," said Sgt. Chris Velar, who runs the Police Department's drunken driving squad.
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More on Alcohol and Sports
RMCA asks parents for opinions on underage drinking
West Roxbury Transcript, MA, May 13, 2004
The Roslindale Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol project hopes to survey more than 1,000 parents of youth ages 11 through 18. The one-page, anonymous survey ... asks for parents' opinions about alcohol and underage drinking.
Input from parents will add to the community conversation and help identify critical issues. RMCA and the community can then choose the best strategies to increase protective factors and reduce risk factors for youth and alcohol.
RMCA is a five-year community organizing project to reduce underage drinking. This project began in 2003, and project staff and volunteers have talked with neighbors, professionals and youth to find out their beliefs and practices. The goal is to reduce underage drinking by identifying sources of alcohol for youth and addressing opinions, policies and behaviors that support underage drinking in Roslindale. RMCA is offering a $10 gift certificate to a local deli/ice cream shop as an incentive for filling out and mailing in the survey.
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Drunkenness No Barrier to Getting More Booze
Palm Beach Post, FL , May 13, 2004
Most bars and liquor stores continue to sell alcohol to obviously intoxicated patrons regardless of laws that prohibit it, a new study says.
Although most states have laws that forbid bars and liquor stores from selling alcohol to people who are obviously drunk, these laws are often not enforced by the police and are ignored by bar and liquor store owners. Serving alcohol to intoxicated people leads to car accidents and violence associated with alcohol abuse.
"Despite laws prohibiting sales of alcohol to obviously intoxicated people, the vast majority of businesses licensed to sell alcohol would sell to someone that appeared to be intoxicated," said lead researcher Dr. Traci L. Toomey, an associate professor of epidemiology from the University of Minnesota.
In their study, Toomey and her colleagues had trained actors try to buy alcohol while appearing intoxicated. Over 10 months, actors visited 372 bars and liquor stores in 11 communities. The research team found 79 percent of the establishments sold alcohol to these pretend drunks.
"The laws prohibiting sales to intoxicated persons are not being enforced, and they are not being complied with by retailers," James F. Mosher, the director of the Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation added. If these laws are enforced, Mosher said, there would be significant drops in drunk driving rates and in alcohol-related problems such as violence.
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Thursday, May 13, 2004
Alcohol lawsuits target ads
Denver Post, May 12, 2004
A series of lawsuits alleging that alcohol companies deliberately market to minors could one day become a national legal landmark - but not unless a "smoking gun" is found to incriminate the companies, legal experts said.
The alcohol marketing suits were filed in Colorado; Washington, D.C.; and North Carolina against Bacardi, Heineken, Mike's Hard Lemonade Co. and a half-dozen other beverage companies, including Golden-based Adolph Coors Co. and its Zima unit.
Legal experts said similarities exist between the alcohol-marketing cases and the national tobacco litigation of the 1990s that culminated with a settlement payment by tobacco companies of more than $246 billion.
But the alcohol lawsuits as yet appear to lack the proof of dishonesty and deceptiveness that characterized accusations against cigarette makers.
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More info on the Lawsuits
Some Hispanics Not Happy With Ad
NY Daily News, May 11, 2004
Some Hispanic women in New York City are not happy about a billboard ad for beer.
The New York Daily News reports the beer ad displays a sudsy brew with a tagline, "Finally, a cold Latina."
"The implications of this one are a little frightening," says Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, president of the Hispanic Federation. "It's one thing to exploit the female body as sexual objects, but this speaks to the negative stereotype that all Latina women are hot tamales in a very subtle and insidious way."
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See the Billboard Ad
Target denied alcohol sales
MSNBC / KNSD (CA), , May 13, 2004
Target Corp. wants to sell beer and wine at its store on Rancho California Road, but has hit a snag due to state regulations regarding how many liquor licenses can be issued in a specific census tract.
In a letter to the city, Target said it plans to appeal the decision to the City Council on the grounds that the state regulations are "arbitrary" and the commission has approved liquor licenses for similar big-box retailers...
In the wake of the Los Angeles riots in the early 1990s, the state Legislature sought to crack down on the prevalence of alcohol licenses by allowing the state department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to consider "overconcentration" a factor in approving liquor licenses.
The Legislature required local governing agencies to declare a "public necessity or convenience" before a liquor license can be issued to a business in an area the ABC determined has too many alcohol vendors.
There are 12 businesses with liquor licenses in the area around Target, just east of the intersection of Rancho California and Ynez roads. Only five are allowed within that census tract based on population numbers so the area was labeled overconcentrated, said Lori Tolle, an ABC investigator.
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More on how Alcoholic Beverage Control issues liquor licenses
More on Alochol Outlet Density and Underage Drinking
Abutters speak against Chili's
Sentinel and Enterprise (MA), May 11, 2004
North Leominster residents raised concerns about traffic and drunken drivers Monday night during a liquor license hearing for Chili's Grill and Bar's future site in Orchard Hill Park.
The License Commission voted 3-0 to continue an informational hearing after about 50 angry residents complained that traffic and road conditions, combined with alcohol, would make the neighborhood unsafe.
"Chili's may be a good idea for Leominster, but it's not a good idea for something so close in a densely populated neighborhood," said Bernie McCaffrey of 100 Ridgewood Drive.
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Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Diana Griego Erwin: Latinas fight for identity beyond beer billboards' stereotyped facade
Sacramento Bee, CA, May 11, 2004
Is beer any good, or does it really need to blatantly exploit sexuality to sell it?
That's the question the beer industry might ask itself as it analyzes its latest marketing misstep in an advertising campaign that's angered Latinas and others in the Southwest and Northern California.
The controversy over a Tecate beer advertisement started in New Mexico where university students were successful in getting several billboards brought down following an uproar in Albuquerque.
But now complaints in that city are resonating at the University of California, Davis, as word spreads of the Tecate ad, which some describe as furthering the exploitative stereotype of the so-called hot Latina.
The billboard features a tilted Tecate beer bottle heavily beaded with dewy condensation and the words "Finally. A Cold Latina. "It's just so blatantly racist and sexist," Ordaz said. "They either hyper-sexualize us or totally de-sexualize us. And what? All to sell a commodity. Beer."
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More on Latino groups protesting offensive billboards for
Tecate beer
MN MADD Youth in Action Members Perform Crime Re-Enactment
PR Newswire, May 11, 2004
EDINA, Minn. -- Minnesota Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Youth In Action (YIA) members will demonstrate against adults providing alcohol to minors on Thursday, May 13, 2004, from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. at the Edina Municipal Liquor Store in Edina, MN. As graduation season draws near, YIA members are concerned about adults providing alcohol to students at graduation.
All spring, YIA members have been asking liquor stores and businesses in their communities to display MADD's "Dad in Jail" poster. In addition, the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association encouraged all Municipal Liquor stores in the state to join the campaign against adult providers. At the event in Edina, YIA members will re-create the image of MADD's "Dad in Jail" poster and perform a skit that sends the message, "Providing alcohol to minors doesn't make them adults. It makes you a criminal."
Over the last few years, YIA was instrumental in passing three new laws that get tough on adult providers of alcohol to youth. These include keg registration and increased civil and criminal penalties on adults who provide alcohol to minors. YIA members, Edina Municipal Liquor stores and students from Edina High School are speaking at the event to raise awareness of the laws and to deter adults from serving alcohol to this year's graduating seniors.
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Blunkett warns on binge drinking
UK Guardian, May 12, 2004
The government will crack down on happy hours and cheap drinks promotions unless the alcohol industry acts responsibly to curb binge drinking, the home secretary said yesterday.
David Blunkett was speaking at a police chiefs' conference where senior officers heard how alcohol-fuelled violence was draining resources.
The Home Office estimates it costs £1bn to deal with 4.5 million anti-social incidents a year, much of them drink-related.
Mr. Blunkett told the Association of Chief Police Officers' annual conference in Birmingham that many communities were "bedevilled" by anti-social behaviour on Friday and Saturday nights.
The government hopes 24-hour licensing laws, which start in July next year, will ease pressure on the police by staggering closing times, avoiding crowds spilling on to the streets at the same time. The legislation will also give the police powers to shut down noisy and disorderly pubs and clubs immediately for 24 hours.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Grant will combat underage drinking
Oshkosh Northwestern, WI, May 10, 2004
“It basically came down to the thought that if what we’re doing right now isn’t working, what can we do differently?” said police Sgt. Steve Sagmeister. “We’re decided to involve students and members of the community.”
The new committee includes high school students, students from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, police and other community members. During the first phase of their project, the committee will complete two rounds of compliance checks at local businesses licensed to sell alcohol.
Police and the coalition will later attempt to address house parties through special patrols and education.
Sagmeister said police are planning to address underage drinking through a variety of means because simple enforcement isn’t always enough to address the issue.
“Ultimately, what we’re trying to do is change behavior,” he said.
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Preventing Underage Alcohol Parties
The Physiological Effects of Alcohol on Teenagers
Authorities run alcohol compliance checks
Grand Island Independent, NE, May 11, 2004
While the majority of the 67 businesses in a weekend alcohol compliance check passed, authorities are still disappointed with the failure rate -- especially concerning one business that failed twice.
Twelve different businesses out of the 67 checked had employees that failed the check. Five of those businesses had been cited once before and one had been cited twice before, Williams said.
"It was alarming," he said. "All but one of the businesses (that failed) checked the minor's identification but sold alcohol anyway. These businesses need to take additional measures to verify the minor's age. Carefully checking identification is the best way to prevent alcohol sales to minors."
Compliance checks are conducted to help communities determine the extent of the problem of alcohol sales to minors. Such enforcement can be used as a measure of the impact prevention efforts have within the community, according to the Sheriff's Department press release.
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Wanted alive: Teenage drinkers
Daily Herald, IL, May 11, 2004
Carlson is helping the Illinois Crime Commission get the word out about a new program unveiled Monday dubbed "Operation Prom Night."
The non-profit group is offering $100 rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone caught providing alcohol to minors. It also pays for tips on underage drunken drivers.
Tipsters are encouraged to call their local police to report underage drinking parties or if they spot a minor getting behind the wheel after drinking. The program also targets parents who host post-prom parties in which alcohol is served to minors.
State Rep. Paul Froehlich, a Schaumburg Republican, said parents also should know they could be sued for millions under a new law beginning in October that targets those who provide alcohol to minors.
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More on Preventing Underage Alcohol Parties
Monday, May 10, 2004
Senate trying to get tougher on states that let drivers drink
Houston Chronicle, TX, May 8, 2004
On a steamy bayou day, there's nothing like picking up 32 ounces of frozen daiquiri at the local drive-through and gulping it as you head down the highway. It's legal in Louisiana -- if the lid's on the cup and the straw doesn't stick out.
But as long as people are allowed to drink in their cars, Washington, D.C., lawmakers are going to keep pushing to withhold a chunk of federal highway aid from states such as Louisiana.
...Catherine Childers, executive director of Louisiana Mothers Against Drunk Driving, noted how the problem of drinking and driving threatens to grow worse in her state. She worries about the drive-in drinks and also about new ways of consuming alcohol on the run. She is concerned, for instance, about people buying "Jell-O shots," or alcohol-laced gelatin squares on a toothpick, and taking them along on their rides. "This is a public health issue," Childers said, "when behavior puts the public at a great risk."
Of the 14 states targeted by Washington, six ban drivers from consuming alcohol -- although Louisiana has the frozen daiquiri exception. That exception, say supporters of the open-container law, illustrates just how far alcohol interests will go. "I don't think there ought to be a state in this country where you can drink (and) drive," said Dorgan. "It's as simple as that."
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S.F. bar owners hauling underage drinkers into court
San Francisco Chronicle, CA, May 10, 2004
When Amante bar in San Francisco was slapped with a $3,000 fine for serving an underage customer who had used someone else's driver's license to gain entrance, the owners of the bustling North Beach establishment decided to take action.
They sued the 20-year-old woman in San Francisco's small claims court and last month won a $5,000 judgment. Emboldened by the success of their innovative approach, Amante's owners, Michael DiBenedetti, Wizz Wentworth and Erik Boardman, have decided they won't stop there. They have joined other bar owners to crack down on underage drinkers by turning to the court system to make them pay.
"I definitely think it's going to send a message,'' said Dibenedetti, who has been in the bartending business for 30 years. "Let it be known that all of the bars are going to be doing this, and it's going to cost these underage kids more than a slap on the wrist.''
Owners of the Amante say they turned to the courts because of the increased difficulty of spotting phony identification cards due to advances in technology used to make them and the steep penalties bar owners face for serving underage customers.
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Safety is message in any language
Framingham Metro West Daily News, MA, May 10, 2004
In time for graduation and prom season, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has created a "Safe Party Guide" in Spanish and English on the importance of celebrating without alcohol. MADD is also working with the Ad Council on an underage drinking prevention media campaign targeting Latino parents.
MADD's campaign in the Latino community comes after national studies revealed Hispanic teens are more often targeted than their non-Hispanic peers with alcohol advertising. Although he is four years below the legal drinking age, Gonzalez and all Hispanics between 12 and 20 years old have been targeted by alcohol ads more than non-Hispanics of the same age, according to a study released by the Center for Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University in Washington last year.
The study, followed by a more recent report that says the top 15 teen television shows in the U.S. all had alcohol advertising in 2002, describes the situation as "serious and disturbing."
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More on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
Bill to require ID numbers on beer kegs is approved
Mobile Register, AL, May 08, 2004
MONTGOMERY -- Beer kegs in Mobile County would require identification numbers to help police identify those who supply underage drinkers under a bill that passed the Legislature this week.
Said Rep. Jamie Ison of her bill: "Everyone is very happy about this -- the retailers, the distributors, the sheriff's office. ... This is just one more tool to help law enforcement officials."
Lobbyists representing retailers and distributors sometimes oppose bills that increase regulations or taxes on their clients, but the industries did not work against Ison's proposal.
In an interview earlier this legislative session, Donna Alexander, executive director of the Alabama Wholesale Beer Association, told the Mobile Register that her organization would support "anything that can put one more roadblock in front of teen drinking."
The bill's passage comes after a rash of underage drinking arrests along the Gulf Coast in recent years, leading a community task force to explore ways to curb alcohol consumption among young people.
"We're going to see how this works and then bring a statewide bill next year," Ison said.
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Friday, May 7, 2004
Alcohol billboard near Grayslake school removed after inquiry
Chicago Daily Herald, IL, May 6, 2004
A possible controversy led to the sudden mid-afternoon removal of a sexy woman and her Bacardi Silver malt beverage from a billboard advertisement at Route 45 and Casey Road, in the shadows of Connections Day School. The ad had been in place for the past two weeks.
Betty Lindquist, one of Connections' founders, had recently complained to Lake County government about the billboard being about 100 feet from the school's entrance. She said students could have perceived the ad as glorifying alcohol.
Citing how Anheuser-Busch Inc., brewer of Bacardi Silver, follows the Beer Institute's advertising and marketing code, spokeswoman Carol Clark said the Bacardi Silver ad never should have been within 500 feet of Connections.
What makes alcohol billboards near schools a bad idea is students are forced to navigate though mixed messages, University of Minnesota Assistant Professor Traci Toomey said. She's associate director of the university's Alcohol Epidemiology Program.
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More on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
Germany cracks down on youth drinking & smoking
DW-World.DE, May 6, 2004
The German parliament has passed new regulations in an attempt to discourage young people from drinking and smoking. The measures include increased taxes on sweet alcoholic drinks, known as "alcopops" and a ban on small packets of cigarettes. The government has accused drinks manufactures of deliberately marketing alcopops at under-18s, causing a marked increased of emergency hospital admissions for alcohol poisoning amongst young people. According to a survey, every second alcopop is bought illegally by an under-18 year old.
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Thursday, May 6, 2004
Alcohol-tax backers to make use of poll
Indianapolis Star, IN, May 5, 2004
A new study could give a boost to advocates for increasing the tax on alcohol in Indiana, which ranks in the bottom third of states on alcohol taxes.
Nearly two-thirds of the country's registered voters said they would favor raising alcohol taxes to pay for programs aimed at curbing underage drinking, according to a telephone poll released Tuesday by the American Medical Association.
Hoosier advocates, including the Indiana Coalition to Curb Underage Drinking, say they will use the poll next year to persuade lawmakers to raise Indiana's alcohol taxes.
"We feel it is an effective way to raise money for programs and initiatives that will reduce underage drinking," said Lisa Hutcheson, the project's director.
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Liquor store crackdown gains support
Oakland Tribune, CA, May 6, 2004
Problem liquor stores would be closed and no new liquor store licenses would be issued under a proposal approved unanimously by the Oakland City Council on Tuesday.
Dozens of Oakland residents had supported the liquor license moratorium after a survey by the city attorney's Neighborhood Law Corps (.pdf) found that a third of Oakland's 359 liquor stores have been the subject of multiple complaints.
The council also directed the city attorney's office to craft an ordinance prohibiting liquor stores from selling "set ups" -- small pints of hard liquor with a cup of ice and a slice of lemon or lime, ready to drink.
Another ordinance under consideration seeks to increase the ability of passers-by to see into liquor stores. While state law limits advertising and signage to 33 percent of the store's window, many owners push shelves or refrigerators against the windows to reduce visibility, officials said.
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See how Oakland youth are making a difference
House says: If you ride, don't drink
Times Picayune, LA, May 6, 2004
After years of opposition from Louisiana's powerful liquor lobby, a bill seeking to end the state's tolerance of open alcohol containers in vehicles finally made it to the House floor Wednesday and won comfortable approval, 66-30.
Senate Bill 341, unanimously approved by the Senate last month, now goes back to that chamber for agreement on an amendment tacked on in the House. That amendment, by Rep. Danny Martiny, R-Kenner, would exempt from the drinking ban passengers in a limousine driven by a licensed chauffeur.
Under present law, only the driver is prevented from having an open alcoholic beverage container -- a law that highway safety experts and police say is unworkable because the driver can hand an alcohol container to a passenger if stopped.
Rep. Mike Futrell, R-Baton Rouge, who handled the bill in the House, said the measure is needed to curb drunken driving and save lives. Futrell said the state has the third-highest highway fatality rate because of alcohol, and the bill would eliminate one possible source of those deaths.
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Alcohol ad near school sparks protests
KOB-TV, NM, May 6, 2004
Cinco de Mayo has no connection to alcohol except for the link implied in seasonal advertising by beer and liquor companies. That link is resented by many Hispanics, including students at an Albuquerque charter high school.
Students at Robert F. Kennedy Charter High School are protesting an ad for Tecate beer that’s on a billboard about a block from their school. The ad depicts a Tecate bottle and the words, “Finally, A Cold Latina.”
The students called billboard owner Clear Channel Outdoor and Tecate importer Labatt USA to complain about the ads and ask that they be taken down. A Clear Channel spokeswoman says the Tecate billboards will be taken down since the contract for the ads ended Wednesday.
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View the Tecate billboard
More on Effects of Alcohol & Advertising on Latinos
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
Latino Activists Call for Budweiser Boycott on Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo Con Orgullo, May 5, 2004
Los Angeles Latinos have identified the Anheuser-Busch company, the largest beer company in the U.S. and maker of Budweiser, as the leader in racist marketing practices towards Latinos. Budweiser, first in targeting Latinos with ads that pervert and demean Latino culture, also owns a substantial share of the Modelo Corporation, maker of the popular import beer Corona.
Members of the community protested the expropriation of the holiday at a rally on March 30th at historic Placita Olvera in downtown Los Angeles, where they called for a boycott of Budweiser products during Cinco de Mayo weekend.
According to Bill Gallegos of the Trauma Foundation, Budweiser has been at the forefront of alcohol industry efforts to use the Cinco de Mayo holiday as a marketing ploy. They have spent millions of dollars on a campaign to connect the holiday with drinking, in complete disrespect for its true meaning.
Cinco de Mayo is about Mexico’s fight for freedom from foreign domination, not about gulping beer. “By boycotting Budweiser, we can send a message to the alcohol industry to leave our culture alone.” Budweiser spends about $25 million a year marketing to the young and rapidly growing Latino community.
More on the "Cinco de Mayo Con Orgullo" (With Pride) Campaign
Cinco de Mayo organizers forgo big festival, beer sponsorships for more intimate, cultural event
San Francisco Chronicle, CA, May 5, 2004
Cinco de Mayo, celebrated in recent years with huge street fairs so sodden with beer sponsorships that the holiday earned the nickname Drinko de Mayo, is returning to its roots today in San Francisco with a small, neighborhood event in the Mission District.
Organizers moved the festivities several years ago to the Civic Center, hoping to make Cinco de Mayo a citywide celebration. But admission fees and corporate sponsorships alienated many in the Latino community, and attendance dwindled to just a few thousand people last year.
"It has gotten totally commercialized and associated with the beer industry," Roberto Hernandez said. "We decided to start small and go back to the roots where it all started, with children and parents and families."
The Mexican holiday commemorates the astonishing victory in the 1862 Battle of Puebla, in which poorly equipped and heavily outnumbered Mexican troops under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated an invading force of 6,000 French soldiers sent by Napoleon III, whose army was considered the best in the world at the time.
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Americans Overwhelmingly Support Increase in State Alcohol Taxes; New Poll Shows Voters Want To Use Funds For Health-Related, Other Programs
U.S. Newswire, DC, May 4, 2004
A new national survey on alcohol taxes released today by the American Medical Association Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse reveals that 90 percent of Americans are concerned about teenage and underage drinking and that voters, by a margin of two to one, favor a tax increase on alcohol in their states to help fund prevention programs.
"Alcohol abuse costs Americans more than $148 billion each year in health care and social costs. Among the most vulnerable of these drinkers are teens. Research shows that alcohol use has a devastating effect on teens developing bodies and brains. Alcohol consumption by teens may cause permanent learning and memory loss," AMA President-Elect John C. Nelson, M.D., M.P.H., said.
"As with smoking, the price of alcohol matters, especially with teenagers," said Dr. Richard A. Yoast, director of the American Medical Association's Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse. "Just as price increases for tobacco reduce consumption and disease, higher alcohol prices are proven to reduce everything from violent crimes to rape."
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Tuesday, May 4, 2004
Risqué ads, risky business?
CNN Money, May 3, 2004
Ads containing sexual humor and flatulence jokes may be a dying breed. Well, at least for now.
Anheuser-Busch, known for its over-the-top humor and shocking TV advertisements, said last month that it will tone down commercials for its Budweiser and Bud Light beers.
During an advertising conference in Miami, Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV told a group of ad agency executives that his company will reconsider using ads of questionable taste as a result of the Super Bowl incident and its aftermath, a spokesman for conference sponsor American Association of Advertising Agencies told CNN/Money.
Anheuser-Busch, a big spender on advertising time slots during Super Bowl telecasts, also said it has pulled two popular ads that were under heavy scrutiny -- one that featured a crotch-biting dog and the other that showed horse flatulence.
Several phone and e-mail requests to Anheuser-Busch were not answered immediately for a phone interview.
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Information on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
Alcohol Checks Yield Best Results Ever
Omaha Channel.com, NE, May 3, 2004
OMAHA, Neb. -- A weekend check of 273 businesses found the fewest number ever selling alcohol to minors.
Douglas and Sarpy counties conducted the weekend checks in concert with finals week for local universities. Just 9.5 percent of businesses sold alcohol to people under 21, which corresponds to the highest compliance rate recorded by Project Extra Mile, the group that runs the compliance checks.
Eight law enforcement agencies in the Omaha metro area and 19 young adults participated in the checks.
"The progress our community has experienced in reducing youth access to alcohol is tremendous and only possible because of the truly collaborative nature of the enforcement operations," said Diane Riibe, executive director of Project Extra Mile.
Results: 98 percent of the compliant businesses checked for identification and properly verified the young person's age. Of the locations found non-compliant, 42 percent of the businesses did not check for identification at all, while 58 percent checked the identification and sold to the minor anyway.
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Monday, May 3, 2004
Cinco de Mayo festival focuses on pride, not pitches
San Diego Union Tribune, CA, May 3, 2004
A mariachi band, piñatas and dancers - but not a drop of alcohol - marked a Cinco de Mayo parade and festival along the San Diego bay front yesterday. The Cinco de Mayo con Orgullo Coalition drew more than 400 participants to its signature event. It is aimed at creating a more dignified celebration con orgullo - "with pride."
Jovita Juarez, chairwoman of the event, said organizers wanted to reclaim Cinco de Mayo from "irresponsible advertisers" who saturate other events with beer and tequila pitches.
Cheng Yang, a Crawford High School freshman, said the "Piñatas with a Purpose" contained candy as well as information about under-age drinking in one of the day's many messages against alcohol.
Cinco de Mayo, the anniversary of the 1862 Battle of Puebla won by the Mexican Army against French invaders, is not widely recognized in Mexico. When the date became popularized as part of the Chicano-rights movement, Juarez said the alcohol industry immediately invented tie-ins and now pumps more than $37 million worth of advertising and other promotional activity into the day.
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Strict Licensing Laws Associated With Less Teen Drinking and Driving
Join Together, April 30, 2004
Young drivers in states with more restrictive driver-licensing laws had lower rates of heavy drinking and driving under the influence of alcohol than those in states with less restrictive laws.
The report, "Graduated Driver Licensing and Drinking among Young Drivers", released today by SAMHSA, shows that while six percent of young drivers nationally were heavy drinkers, young drivers in states with the most restrictive graduated licensing laws had lower rates of heavy drinking than did young drivers in states with the least restrictive licensing provisions.
"We need to protect our young drivers by making it clear that drinking and driving are never acceptable, and that there is no safe level of alcohol for inexperienced drivers."
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More on Alcohol and Youth
Public Safety trumps extending 'last call'
Marin IJ, April 28, 2004
When framed as a decision between improving business for bars and protecting life and limb, there should not be much room for debate.
Kathy Remak of Novato, whose 30-year-old son was killed by a suspected drunken driver just seven months ago, traveled to Sacramento to bring greater clarity to the debate.
She testified during the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization hearing, where assemblyman Mark Leno's proposal to allow San Francisco to permit some bars to serve past the 2a.m. "last call" was being considered.
Leno, advancing legislation sought by the San Francisco Entertainment Commission and a number of city restaurants, argued that moving the "last call" curfew to 4 a.m. for a limited, city-controlled number of establishments is needed to bolster the city's sagging bar and restaurant business.
Committee members were not convinced, siding instead with Remak, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the San Rafael-based Youth Leadership Institute, that providing people with more time and opportunity to drink isn't going to make streets safer for pedestrians and motorists.
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Friday, April 30, 2004
Town fights underage drinking
Monroe Courier, CT, April 30, 2004
In an effort to curb alcohol consumption by minors, local and state officials are joining forces to pass an ordinance designed to aid them in the quest.
Members of Alcohol and Drug Awareness of Monroe (A.D.A.M.) and other officials recently proposed adoption of the ordinance during a forum at Town Hall. The purpose of the ordinance is to reduce the number of "house parties" where underage drinking takes place by raising awareness of the issue.
Consequences for supplying alcohol to minors would include, for a first offense, a fine of $500 or imprisonment for one year, or both, or 180 hours of community service.
Gary Najarian, program manager of the Connecticut Coalition to Stop Underage Drinking, said passing the ordinance would help increase enforcement and accountability for adults who host house parties and youths in possession of alcohol. He said findings from a survey completed by the coalition conclude that youth believe alcohol is "amazingly" easy to obtain from friends, parents and sales outlets, even though it is illegal to sell or provide it to them.
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Ordinances against hosting underage drinking parties
America's 'legal drug' claims teens' lives
Kentucky Post, KY, April 30, 2004
...alcohol continues to be the No. 1 drug of choice among our youth. As the "legal drug," alcohol is often considered benign by most adults. The attitude seems to be, "As long as my kids drink at home or don't drink and drive, what's the big deal?"
Here's the big deal: Alcohol is a factor in the four leading causes of death among persons ages 10 to 24. Those causes are automobile crashes, youth suicides, homicides and fatal injuries.
Over the past two decades, scientific research has revolutionized our understanding of how drugs affect the brain. We now know that prolonged, repeated drug and alcohol use can result in fundamental, long-lasting changes in brain structure and functioning, according to Dr. Robert Morse, chairman of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Medical/Scientific Committee and recently retired from the world-famous Mayo Clinic where he was director of addictive disorders.
While the issue of underage drinking is a complex problem, one which can only be solved through a sustained and cooperative effort engaging parents, schools, community leaders and the children themselves, there are three areas which have proven to be effective in prevention of underage drinking: Curtailing the availability of alcohol, consistent enforcement of existing laws and regulations, and changing norms and behaviors through education.
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The physiological effects of alcohol on Adolescents
How man behind Boston Miracle cut under-age drinking
The Times, April 29, 2004
When Paul Evans was Police Commissioner in Boston, Massachusetts, he reduced under-age drinking with a policy of imposed “alcohol-free zones” and “party patrols”.
The city’s murder rate was reduced by two thirds in the decade he was in charge. One focus of his community policing approach was a purge on under-age drinking.
Under Mr. Evans, Boston’s police worked closely with the universities and community groups to rein in the student drinkers. The police stepped up sting operations against liquor stores that sold alcohol to under-age drinkers. At the same time officers made joint “party patrols” with university officials to trawl the surrounding streets for under-age students who were drunk. The police also encourage the colleges to control drinking on campus.
As a result, Northeastern University now offers a non-alcoholic version of the popular student drinking game “beer pong”, in which students throw ping-pong balls into plastic tumblers of beer, which the losers must then drink. In the university’s approved version, the tumblers contain only non-alcoholic root beer.
Boston introduced “alcohol-free zones” at major gatherings, such as the annual concert near the Charles River to celebrate American Independence Day on July 4.
To limit binge drinking on New Year’s Eve, the city also organised a “first night” celebration with a series of public events at which alcohol is not served.
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Thursday, April 29, 2004
America's No. 1 drug problem among young people continues to be alcohol use
Kentucky Post, KY, April 28, 2004
A recent survey of Northern Kentucky schools conducted by the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati found that 37 percent of 9th graders and 56 percent of high school seniors reported to have used alcohol in the past month. The study also reported that about 85 percent of local students say they could get alcohol fairly easily.
Curbing alcohol use among teens -- the No. 1 drug problem among youth -- is a critical issue. According to the National Academy of Science, teen drinking cost $53 billion a year, including $19 billion for traffic accidents.
In addition to state laws that set a minimum age at which young people can drink legally and efforts at enforcement, local officials are taking steps. Campbell County Fiscal Court last year approved a countywide "keg law," which makes it illegal for adults to allow alcohol to be served to minors while on the adults' property. First-time offenders face fines of up to $250 and a jail time of up to 90 days. Repeat offenders could pay $500 and go to jail for a year.
Youth too are tackling underage drinking. At Covington's Holmes Junior and Senior High schools, students have formed Youth Out Front, a student advocacy group and extracurricular club, that uses drama to send the message to teens and parents that illegal drug use, including alcohol by minors, is never OK.
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City looks to rein in liquor stores
Oakland Tribune, CA, April 29, 2004
The Oakland City Council's Public Safety Committee on Tuesday endorsed calls for a liquor license moratorium after a survey by the city attorney's Neighborhood Law Corps found that a third of Oakland's 359 liquor stores have been the subject of numerous complaints.
"Where there are liquor stores, there is more crime, lower economic development and higher rates of alcoholism," said Councilmember Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary). "It is compounded by the poverty you find in the flatlands of Oakland, and the pathologies play out."
The survey -- presented in the form of a report card listing each store as "good, bad or ugly" -- also found Oakland has too many liquor stores for its population under state law. Many were "grandfathered in" after the state Legislature tightened liquor store restrictions in 1994.
"We're recommending that the council send a clear message that we've had enough when it comes to liquor stores," said Alex Nguyen, the director of the Neighborhood Law Corps.
If approved by the council, residents will have until June 5 to weigh in on the report card and liquor stores in their neighborhoods.
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Learn more on the relationship between alcohol outlet density and underage drinking
Pressing the message
Hamilton Wenham Chronicle, MA, April 28, 2004
"I think [underage drinking] is a major problem in our community," said Laura Blanchard, unblinkingly. "And I think access to alcohol is the biggest problem. It's so easy for kids to get and, especially in our towns, a huge way to get alcohol is at parties."
To help minimize that problem among young people, MADD hosted a Youth Summit at the end of March. During that three-day event, nearly 100 youth representatives from high schools across the state, including Blanchard, volunteered to convene in a Waltham hotel to hear guests speakers on the subject of underage drinking and, afterward, to develop a list of 10 ways in which the problem can be legislatively addressed.
Students at the summit nailed down their positions and, last week, brought them to state legislators right where they work.
"I'm presenting a recommendation about a law that would say you have to be 21 to sell and serve alcohol," said Blanchard, who noted the current minimum age is 18. "You shouldn't be able to sell or serve as an 18-year-old if you're not allowed to drink until you're 21. It sends the wrong message."
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Wednesday, April 28, 2004
The drinks trolleys raise questions
Boston Globe, MA, April 28, 2004
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has given advertisers the right to wrap its Green Line trains in dramatic designs touting their products, in what has become an important generator of revenue for the financially strapped authority. But the very visible presence of T cars blanketed with liquor promotions traveling through areas of heavy student population has set off concern among some riders and officials.
Councilor Jerry P. McDermott says the ads are irresponsible, especially because of the riots after the Super Bowl and a Red Sox playoff game last October, and he wants to ban them. McDermott has asked for a hearing with MBTA officials and public health advocates to discuss a ban.
"Why are we pushing booze on trains that go right through the college areas?" McDermott asked. "I have the right to ask that question. We need to change the culture and change the attitude."
Some large public transportation systems in other cities, including Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco, prohibit liquor advertisements. A number of other cities are considering the idea, according to George Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
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Mount Vernon eyes alcohol ban in parks
Skagit Valley Herald, WA, April 27, 2004
The Highland Games in the summer and Brewfest in downtown Mount Vernon dish out plenty of games, entertainment and a generous helping of alcohol. But what happens if someone leaves a city function after drinking and gets into a car accident? Who's responsible? Mayor Bud Norris says it could be the city that takes the brunt of the responsibility.
Norris wants the City Council to consider a new policy that would ban or severely restrict the serving of alcohol in city parks. The council will discuss a new alcohol policy at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, at the Police and Court Campus, 1805 Continental Place.
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PACE national director speaks on campus
Badger Herald, WI, April 28, 2004
The national program director of “A Matter of Degree,” which includes the University of Wisconsin Policy Alternatives Community Education (PACE) project, met with various undergraduate classes Tuesday to speak about issues surrounding the alcohol industry.
Dr. Richard Yoast, also the director of the American Medical Association Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, said the project is designed to reduce the harmful effects drinking has on students and surrounding communities.
According to Jonathan Zarov, UW communications manager for PACE and University Health Services, PACE mainly attempts to change various policies that involve drinking. The organization most recently attempted to limit drink specials in Madison bars.
To do this, Zarov said PACE is currently working on four initiatives. Those are limiting access to cheap alcohol, changing student expectations toward drinking, fixing problems created by house parties and improving parental involvement. “The key difference between what you might expect is that there really is a policy focus instead of just brochures to students,” Zarov said. “We don’t think that works very well.”
“Students have been trained to think about drinking as a right,” Yoast said. “This project wants to change how we think about alcohol.”
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Most in State Expect Some Tax Increases
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 25, 2004
Higher levies on alcohol, tobacco and the wealthy are favored to help close the state's budget gap.
With the state mired in a budget crisis for the fourth year in a row, most Californians support raising taxes and expect Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to adopt that approach, a new Los Angeles Times poll has found.
Nearly four out of five Californians back higher taxes on cigarettes, and, by the same ratio, alcoholic beverages.
"I don't have a need for alcohol and tobacco, and to be honest, I don't look at them as particularly healthy substances," a Murrieta pest control manager, Michael Johnson said. "Since it is a vice, I think it would be a good area to hit a little harder with taxes."
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State volleyball bidding war
Pantagraph, IL, April 26, 2004
BLOOMINGTON -- In a bid to remain host of the Class A and AA high school girls state volleyball tournaments, Redbird Arena won't have to look far to see at least one of its competitors.
Organizers of Bloomington's yet-to-be-built downtown arena plan to bid on the tournaments, which have called Illinois State their home since 1990.
...Another criterion for tournament hosts is what steps they will take to eliminate signs advertising alcohol. "We don't ever want to be seen as an organization that wants to promote alcohol and tobacco use," Holman said. "I think we need to be an example setter."
Holman concedes alcohol advertising can be a major source of income for arenas so changing a sign to something like "drink responsibly" might be a doable compromise. "We don't ask them to lose money, but we don't want them to make money on our backs and promote those things to our students," he said.
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Monday, April 26, 2004
400 t-shirts confiscated in Public Safety bust
Daily Princetonian, NJ, April 26, 2004
Public Safety officers entered a 1901 Hall room on Friday and confiscated nearly 400 Newman's Day shirts, University officials and students who were there said.
Following the instructions of Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan, two Public Safety officers entered the room around 3 p.m. Friday and brought the shirts to Deignan's office.
The development came after a week of national attention on the Newman's Day tradition - held Saturday - in which some students try to drink 24 beers in 24 hours. The lawyer of actor Paul Newman, whose son died of a drug overdose, recently asked the University to take measures to stop the tradition.
...Deignan said the shirts were confiscated because "they were advertising a very dangerous drinking game that the University has been clear it does not support."
University alcohol policy states that violations occur "when serving of alcohol encourages excessive drinking (e.g. drinking games)."
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Town prepares to go alcohol-free
Burlington Union, MA, April 22, 2004
A kick-off ceremony for an alcohol-free weekend will be held on the Burlington common on Friday, April 30. The event is sponsored by the Burlington Drug and Alcohol Task Force. Community members will be asked to take a pledge to stay alcohol-free for the weekend lasting through May 2.
On April 7, a meeting was held between task force co-chairpersons Charlie Franich and Belmonte, Police Chief Fran Hart, Selectman Kevin McKelvey and Burlington liquor vendors. An alliance was formed with the liquor selling establishments in town. "We were very pleased by the attendance of so many liquor merchants. There was a healthy exchange of ideas to help reduce underage drinking," said Franich.
...Another message the task force hopes to get across is that a weekend doesn't equal drinking. Belmonte believes that through advertising and commercials, kids are getting the message that weekends equal alcohol, equal fun.
When asked if an alcohol-free weekend was a realistic message Belmonte replied, "We are not anti-alcohol and have no desire to make Burlington a dry town. Our goal is to try and reduce underage drinking and substance abuse. We feel that our children grow up with a lot of pro-alcohol messages, especially in advertising. One evening I counted five beer commercials in a row at a reasonable hour during teen-appropriate television shows. If you look at the statistics for teen music radio stations and you look at the advertising that's done between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. on those stations, it's all beer and wine cooler type of commercials. There is no question the alcohol industry is targeting our youth.
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Friday, April 23, 2004
CAMY Study boosts lawsuits over alcohol ads
Washington Times, April 22, 2004
A study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) targeting the effect of the alcohol industry's television advertising on youth is adding fuel to lawsuits blaming underage drinking on the $116 billion industry.
Several class-action lawsuits, touted as the next tobacco litigation, have been filed recently against alcoholic-beverage companies, such as Coors Brewing Co., Bacardi & Co. Ltd. and Heineken NV, saying they market to underage consumers...
Washington public-health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest said the study gives credence to lawsuits holding the alcohol industry liable for underage drinking.
"This study is another nail in the coffin," said George Hacker, director for the group's alcohol policies project. Mr. Hacker called the alcohol suits "gate openers" for a flood of litigation similar to tobacco lawsuits that resulted in a $246 billion settlement.
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Summaries of the lawsuits against the alcohol industry
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY)
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Bill would ban those under 21 in lounges
Tuscaloosa News (AL), April 22, 2004
Some bars throughout Alabama could soon have to close their doors to 19- and 20-year-old customers if the Alabama House agrees with the Senate that changes are needed to curb underage drinking.
The Alabama Senate has passed legislation that would wipe out a state law that lets 19-and 20-year-olds enter lounges even though they can’t legally drink liquor. The legislation would require lounges to admit only customers of legal drinking age: 21 and above.
“This is a small step to correct the underage drinking problem," said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Gary Tanner, D-Theodore.
His bill still must pass the House and be signed by the governor before taking effect.
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LETTER: Underage drinking a cause of riot
Iowa State Daily, April 22, 2004
There is no doubt that the Veishea weekend riot was largely fueled by the over consumption of alcohol and underage drinking. Youth & Shelter Services and others have been working hard to promote discussion, education, and legislation to deal with the growing binge drinking problem among our youth.
Maybe now we'll see more thoughtful consideration and wider community participation in addressing this epidemic of alcohol abuse.
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Study on Low-Priced, High Volume Sales of Alcohol Available to College Students
St. Landry (LA) Liquor Law Remains Same
KLFY-TV, Lafayette, LA, April 20, 2004
In an 8-4 vote, the St. Landry Parish Council decided to leave the current liquor law as is. Bar owners say the current 2:00am closing time is hurting the parish.
St. Landry Parish bar owner Tonia Dupre says she's disappointed in the council's decision to knock down an extension of the sale of liquor.
Dupre says St. Landry Parish bar owners asked for a 24-hour liquor law after Opelousas City Council members allowed bar and club owners within city limits to do the same.
Tuesday, council members voted against an amended version of that proposal, asking for the extension of liquor sales to 4:00 in the morning on weekends and certain holidays.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Teen Shows: Prime Time for Alcohol Ads
Forbes, April 21, 2004
"Kids are being swamped. There was an enormous increase in alcohol ads between 2001 and 2002," said study co-author David Jernigan, research director for the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University. "All of the top shows had alcohol ads. Teenagers were more likely to see ads for beer and other alcohol than for soda pop."
The report, released on the center's Web site Wednesday, found the number of ads for alcohol on local, network and cable television was 39 percent higher in 2002 than in 2001. A total of 289,381 ads for alcoholic beverages ran on TV in 2002.
Spending on alcohol advertising on TV rose dramatically during the one year covered by the report. In 2002, alcohol manufacturers spent $990 million marketing their products on television -- a 22 percent increase over the year before.
Jernigan and his colleagues recommend the alcohol industry adopt the suggestions of the Institute of Medicine and not air alcohol ads on shows with more than a 15 percent teen audience, instead of the industry's current self-regulation of 30 percent. Doing so would only restrict ads from about one in four shows. But, had that suggestion been implemented in 2002, alcohol manufacturers would have had to move more than 61,000 ads.
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More on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth
U.Va. Researchers Find Serious Health Consequences Associated With Alcohol And College Students
University of Virginia Health System, April 14, 2004
Alcohol use is an uncommon but significant cause of emergency room visits for college students, according to researchers at the University of Virginia. Their study...concluded that certain categories of college students, like those of legal drinking age, experience serious health consequences due to their misuse or abuse of alcohol. In fact, students 21 and over were more likely to be seen for alcohol-related problems than any other undergraduate age group.
“Since they are of legal age, they have more ready access to alcohol, and therefore are more likely to overindulge,” said Dr. James C. Turner, executive director of the Department of Student Health at U.Va., professor of clinical internal medicine and principal investigator of the study. “In addition, those students who are experiencing serious negative health consequences from drinking likely reach the legal age of 21 but without having any good sense of how to drink responsibly. Unfortunately, many young people of today don't see modeling of responsible alcohol consumption in the media and our alcohol educational efforts in secondary and post-secondary schools have failed to help them establish safe parameters or boundaries for those who engage in drinking.”
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Study on Low-Priced, High Volume Sales of Alcohol Available to College Students
Teens Investigate Underage Drinking
WXIA-TV, GA, April 20, 2004
Some 90 teenagers in DeKalb County went out with cameras and note pads to investigate how local stores were marketing alcohol, they believe, to people too young to drink. Some of the teenagers said stores that sell alcohol need to keep it away from other products that attract young people.
“Personally, I think that’s horrible. I mean, why are you trying to get us? You have your adults, why are you trying to get us,” said Rashida Smith, one of the teenagers involved in the project.
“Our mission is to raise the awareness about underage alcohol and to work through the community to change the norms of the community as it relates to underage alcohol use,” said Patricia Stokes of the Underage Drinking Task Force.
Joel Hardy, the director of the Georgia Alcohol Policy Partnership said the next step was “to try and build as many partnerships and collaboratives as possible -- all about focusing energy on changing policy statewide and local policy and enforcement strategies that can help reduce the problem of underage drinking.”
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Novato woman testifies at state alcohol hearing
Marin Independent Journal, CA, April 20, 2004
A Novato mother, whose son was killed seven months ago by a drunken driving suspect, urged state Assembly members yesterday not to extend drinking hours in San Francisco. She traveled to Sacramento yesterday to testify before an Assembly committee that was considering a bill - introduced by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco - that would extend the closing time of drinking establishments in the city and county of San Francisco from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.
Leno said the extended hours are needed to bolster San Francisco's ailing bars and restaurants, which have been hit hard by the bursting of the dot-com bubble and terrorism concerns. The bill was sponsored by the San Francisco Entertainment Commission, which helped to arrange for two bus loads of bar owners, bar patrons and disc jockeys to attend the hearing in a show of support.
But the members of the Committee on Governmental Organization weren't convinced. They voted 12-5 against moving the bill out of committee, effectively killing it.
Maureen Sedonaen, director of the San Rafael-based Youth Leadership Institute, and other opponents testified at yesterday's hearing that the extended drinking hours would increase the city's public safety and medical costs, ultimately costing more than they would bring in.
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More on Alcohol and Youth
Monday, April 19, 2004
Nevada Mom Sues Coors Over Son's Death
Fox News, April 18, 2004
Jodie Pisco, of Reno contends Coors has failed in its duty to protect the country's youth from drinking. Her son, Ryan, was killed in 2002 after he drank Coors at a party and drove his girlfriend's car into a light pole at 90 mph, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Washoe County District Court, seeks unspecified damages. It accused Coors of "glorifying a culture of youth, sex and glamour while hiding the dangers of alcohol abuse and addiction."
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Hispanics Urged to Boycott Budweiser
Join Together, April 16, 2004
May 5 With Pride, a Hispanic activist group, is urging a boycott of Budweiser beer during this year's Cinco de Mayo celebrations, saying the brewer is using the holiday to promote alcohol consumption, the Associated Press reported April 8th.
"With their publicity, they want to make us look like drunkards, and use the celebration of our Mexican fiesta as a day for getting drunk," said Albert Melena of May 5 With Pride.
The group and other Hispanic activists have called on the company to stop using the cultural festival in its marketing.
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Cowboy Enterprise: Battle against underage drinkers nets fake IDs
Casper Star Tribune, WY, April 17, 2004
LARAMIE, (AP) -- Every September and January, dozens of thirsty college kids wander into North Ridge Discount Liquors in Laramie and slip a driver's license across the counter.
Their eyes widen a little as the clerk pulls out an identification guide and carefully analyzes the license for anything that looks suspicious. Most underage customers bolt for the door once the identification is exposed as a fake. "We've got quite the reputation for carding and have a zero tolerance policy," said owner Ed Mascarenas.
Since last September, Mascarenas has collected over 60 fake IDs this way. Most are confiscated at the start of each semester, before students realize what they're getting into. "It tapers off quite a bit because you build a reputation for obeying the law," Mascarenas said.
Last year, officers saw an increase both in underage alcohol consumption and in cases where alcohol was furnished to minors. In most incidents, violators were cited under a new ordinance that holds property owners responsible for parties that involve underage drinking.
Police are also exploring the idea of initiating compliance checks at liquor establishments, although the details are still sketchy.
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Underage drinking not a rite of passage
Daily Journal of International Falls, MN, April 13, 2004
Before another unsuspecting high school or college student dies of alcohol poisoning or is mangled in an alcohol related car crash, the gravity of underage drinking needs again to be highlighted. Alcohol is the drug that is most frequently used by American teenagers, but even more so here in Northern Minnesota. It is the drug most likely to be associated with injury or death.
There are still those who dismiss underage drinking as "youthful indiscretion" -- a rite of passage from adolescence into adulthood and many underage drinkers begin in their own homes, supplied by their own parents or other family members. Alcohol is also strongly marketed to underage drinkers and associated with athletic and social events popular with high school and college students. Some establishments are still knowingly serving minors, putting themselves and the underage drinkers at great risk.
There are three areas that have been proven effective in the prevention of underage drinking: curtailing the availability of alcohol, consistent enforcement of laws and regulations and changing behaviors and establishing norms through education and positive role modeling. The alcohol beverage industry also has a responsibility to curtail advertising and marketing those appeals to underage youth.
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Friday, April 16, 2004
Road clear for ban on alcohol in cars
Times Picayune, LA, April 15, 2004
BATON ROUGE -- Ending years of opposition, Louisiana's powerful liquor lobby said Wednesday it will not fight a measure that would prohibit passengers in cars and trucks from drinking alcohol, clearing away the chief obstacle to the bill's passage.
State law prohibits drivers of a vehicle from having open alcoholic beverage containers but lets passengers have them. Supporters of the Chaisson bill say the rules let drinking drivers pass their containers to a passenger if they are stopped. Chaisson's bill extends the open-container ban to all occupants of a vehicle.
Although open containers already are banned in much of the New Orleans area by local governments, enacting a statewide law has long been a priority of groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission and the Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking. The Highway Safety Commission says nearly half of all roadway crashes in Louisiana are alcohol-related, compared with less than 40 percent nationwide.
If the measure passes, Louisiana would become the 37th state to ban open alcohol containers in vehicles.
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Dibble High parents join prom movement
Oklahoman, OK, April 15, 2004
In response to a growing concern about underage drinking on prom night, parents of high schoolers are hosting an increasing number of drug- and alcohol-free after-prom parties.
This year, Dibble High School parents are following the trend, hosting the school's first official after-prom party at Cleveland County YMCA in Norman from 11:30 p.m. April 24 to 6 a.m. April 25. All-night festivities include swimming, hypnotism, inflatable games, a Velcro wall, movies, basketball, prizes, food and nonalcoholic drinks -- all free to prom-goers, Dibble prom sponsor Sharla Culwell said.
"Usually, there's somebody that has a party after prom and it involves underage drinking," said Sharon Slabaugh, whose son, Tyler, is a junior at Dibble. "We just wanted to provide them with a safe alternative ... and to keep them from peer pressure."
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Free Guide Provides Essential Information on the Effects of Early Alcohol Use by Children
HispanicBusiness.com, February 23, 2004
Washington, DC.,--(HISPANIC PR WIRE)-- Childhood drinking is a serious problem in the United States. Two in five ninth graders say they had an alcoholic drink before they were 13 and more than one in five eighth graders has been drunk at least once. Now there is a guide for parents, teachers and community members that explains the effects of early alcohol use. Created by the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, the guide is available in English and Spanish online at www.alcoholfreechildren.org in a PDF or HTML format. It also can be ordered from the Leaderships website.
The user-friendly guide, How Does Alcohol Affect the World of a Child?, provides startling statistics about underage drinking. It gives facts about the effects of childhood drinking on the family, child, community and school, and its impact on childrens health and safety, as well as society. The guide also provides results from surveys and polls that gauge childrens feelings on drinking and their access to alcohol. One study finds that 68 percent of eighth graders and 85 percent of tenth graders believe that alcohol is readily available to them for consumption.
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Thursday, April 15, 2004
Keep booze out of hands of minors
Battle Creek Enquirer, MI, April 14, 2004
... as a community, (we) must do more to confront the issue of underage drinking...
...the responsibility needs to be shared, and Alcohol Awareness Month during April is a good time to put the spotlight on this serious issue. The Substance Abuse Council invites area residents to participate in the Calhoun County Underage Drinking Prevention Forum. The forum seeks to prevent underage drinking through three channels: curtailing the availability of alcohol; consistent enforcement of laws and regulations dealing with teens and drinking; and educating both children and adults to change some of the social norms and behavior that have made drinking more acceptable.
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Alcohol use and victimization among college women
Medical News Today, April 14, 2004
When parents send their daughters off to college, few think they may return home as victims. Yet roughly 10 percent of women have experienced an attempted or completed rape during their first year at an American college and, often, alcohol is involved. This association is reinforced by findings published in the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
"This is the first study to look at daily drinking and both sexual and nonsexual victimization experiences using a sample of college women during a number of weeks," said Kathleen A. Parks, senior research scientist at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions and first author of the study. "...We found that on days when women drank, particularly when they consumed alcohol heavily, they were at a much greater likelihood of experiencing both sexual and nonsexual victimization."
"And it's not just sexual assault," R. Lorraine Collins, also a senior research scientist at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions, said, "alcohol use is associated with lots of different types of aggression. For example, male-on-male aggression increases in bar settings, there is a relationship between alcohol use and criminal activity, and violence against spouses is also associated with alcohol use. However, research should never be dismissed as just 'common sense.' A lot of things that appear to be 'commonsensical' are not based on data, and one of the things that we really need in order to shape policy and to really understand what's going on is data.
Both Parks and Collins acknowledged that the environment also plays a role in risk for victimization.
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More on Alcohol and Women
Study on Correlates of Rape while Intoxicated
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Student tailgating space considered
Iowa State Daily, IA, April 13, 2004
A trio of students, led by Government of the Student Body President Mike Banasiak, left a meeting with school officials Monday with a plan to obtain a general public parking space near the stadium. While the space will be open to anyone at first, Banasiak said GSB will continue working with administration until Lot S-4 becomes students-only.
The administration has no control over general public parking, so alcohol will be allowed within the space Banasiak plans to use .
The Student Gameday Experience Committee, a GSB initiative which has tried to find a solution to the tailgating problem, has all but finished its work, Banasiak said. The Wednesday meeting he and GSB senators Nick Leitheiser and Dan Christenson attended with administrators was intended to find a compromise. However, he said, debate became bogged down due to issues concerning drinking, security and student well-being.
One of the first major points of contention came when Vice President for Student Affairs Thomas Hill renewed his stance against a student parking area allowing drinking. "Right now I feel very strongly about it," he said. "With at least 50 percent of the student population being not of legal age, that creates a problem for me. And if I'm going to be a responsible administrator, I have to look at that."
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Convenience store beer sale bid raises issue of teenage drinking
Henderson Gleaner, KY, April 13, 2004
A West Side convenience store's application to sell packaged beer triggered a lengthy debate Monday about free enterprise versus the problem of teen drinking. Opponents, however, cited the presence of those stores and others as evidence of why the permit should be denied.
Evansville City Councilman Steve Bagbey, who sponsored a City Council resolution opposing the expansion of alcohol sales at convenience stores, spoke against the permit. Bagbey's resolution passed the City Council 8-0. "I have a real problem with the proliferation of alcohol, as I see kids dying," said Bagbey, who is the safety director for Evansville Catholic Schools.
"What concerns me isn't the Master Tire issue, but the increased exposure to alcohol through convenience stores," Sheriff Deputy Kiefer said. "They (local students) tell me it's so easy to get."
William Wooten, Mulberry Center addiction physician and founder of Youth First, cited surveys showing Vanderburgh County exceeds state and national teen drinking levels.
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Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Study: Alcohol as Damaging as Tobacco
Join Together, April 13, 2004
A new World Health Organization (WHO) study concludes that alcohol use is just as damaging to individual health as tobacco use.
Study co-author Jurgen Rehm, an addiction specialist and a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto, said alcohol's risks have been understated because several studies have shown that a drink a day can reduce the risk of heart attacks. As a result, he said, the industry has been able to escape the harsh health warnings associated with cigarettes even though alcohol is an obvious public-health threat.
According to Rehm's study, the health benefits of alcohol use are generally overstated, and are virtually non-existent for young people. "Even small amounts of alcohol increase the risk of injury and boost the chances of developing about 60 diseases, including several cancers, liver cirrhosis, and neurorpsychological disorders," Rehm's report said.
The WHO said the report's findings should serve as a stepping-stone for an international debate about the need to reduce global alcohol consumption.
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Efforts against under-aged drinking, driving heightened
Ukiah Daily Journal, CA, April 12, 2004
Attorney General Bill Lockyer Thursday joined other state law enforcement agencies in unveiling a new investigative protocol to reduce deaths and injuries caused by under-aged drinking by targeting liquor stores, restaurants and bars that serve alcohol to individuals under the age of 21.
"We have seen too many tragedies involving under-aged drinking, and we all must do our part to prevent them," Lockyer said. "This collaborative effort will ensure that law enforcement agencies investigating alcohol-related deaths and injuries will take steps to determine the source of the alcohol, and that businesses that provide liquor to under-aged drinkers will face prosecution and harsh penalties, including the loss of their liquor licenses."
Target Responsibility for Alcohol Connected Emergencies (TRACE) was developed by a task force convened by Lockyer last year after he met Lynne Goodwin and discussed the death of her 20-year-old daughter, Casey. Active in fighting under-aged drinking as a member of Friday Night Live, Casey was killed in March 2003 by an 18-year-old drunk driver.
The task force was charged with developing a protocol for officers investigating alcohol-related incidents involving under-aged drinkers to identify the source of the alcohol. Under the protocol, law enforcement officers will immediately try to determine where the youths obtained or consumed alcohol prior to the event and notify the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) if the alcohol was purchased or consumed at an ABC-licensed business establishment.
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More on the Goodwin Lawsuit
Monday, April 12, 2004
Board stands firm on revoking beer permit of cafe near Sewanee campus
Tullahoma Net, TN, April 10, 2004
SEWANEE - The University of the South may have been labeled by some as a "party school," but a Franklin County Beer Board decision to revoke Shenanigans restaurant's permit sends a message that selling to minors won't be tolerated, according to chairman Karl Smith.
The Beer Board agreed on March 25 to revoke the Sewanee establishment's permit and concurred again Monday in a special meeting called to look further into a controversial issue.
Smith said Friday the Beer Board's objective is to ensure beer is not sold to minors - a problem he deems worse at Sewanee than in other parts of Franklin County. He said revoking Shenanigans' permit could lead toward curbing alcohol sales to minors at Sewanee. "Maybe it's a step in the right direction," he said.
Smith said other beer selling establishments there are bound to take notice and make a stronger effort to check identifications. "Nothing is said until somebody gets killed, then there's a 100 percent turnaround to do something," he said, adding that teenage deaths in Franklin County have been linked to illegal beer sales and consumption.
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Serving youths alcohol may send them into gutter
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, NY, April 9, 2004
During the month of April we highlight the public health issue of underage drinking and its devastating effects on our youths and community.
Alcohol has been and continues to be the most frequently abused drug by youths and is the drug most frequently associated with injury or death. Yet we continue to view underage drinking as a rite of passage.
The alcohol industry continues to strongly market to the underage drinker, most often at athletic and social events popular with high school and college students. How many of our local establishments continue to serve underage drinkers? Media continue to glamorize the use of alcohol. According to a Nielson Media Research report, youths saw more beer and ale advertising in 2001 than they saw ads for gum, cookies, crackers or sneakers.
How can we respond as a society to this devastating public health issue? As a community we can begin to engage in several strategies that have proven effective in the prevention of underage drinking: Curtail the availability of alcohol. Ensure consistent enforcement of laws and regulations. Work to change the societal norms, beliefs and consequently the behaviors that promote or normalize underage drinking.
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Students underestimate how much they drink
AZ Central.com, AZ, April 9, 2004
Alcohol has been a part of college life almost as long as there has been such a thing as higher education. But it's only in the last decade that campus officials have tried to prevent the worst excesses.
Colleges and universities do try to change student behavior through ad campaigns and campus regulations, but critics don't think that's enough. Alcohol, after all, is still served at countless football games and campus pubs, and liquor stores are rarely more than a few minutes walk from most dorm rooms.
Despite various prevention efforts, levels of so-called "binge drinking" haven't changed over the past decade. Some researchers think this may be because students drink more than they think. "When you ask a student how much they drink, the answer they give you is probably a dramatic underestimation," said Aaron White, an assistant research professor at Duke University, who wrote about the findings in a recent study. "They might say they have one beer, but when they pour it's a beer and a half."
As for solutions, Henry Wechsler, director of the Harvard School of Public Health's College Alcohol Studies Program, said there has to be a "long-term concentrated effort" to cut down both the supply of alcohol and the demand. Schools can start by targeting liquor sellers and their price cuts, he said, and also by eliminating the drink discounts of happy hour.
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Study on Low-Priced, High Volume Sales of Alcohol Available to College Students
House Resolution to Eliminate Alcohol Ads on NCAA Sports Broadcasts
BigAlcohol.com, April 10, 2004
On Thursday, March 25, U.S. Representative Tom Osborne (R-NE), joined by Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), introduced House Resolution 575 in the House of Representatives, calling upon the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to end all alcohol advertising during radio and television broadcasts of college sporting events.
House Resolution 575 urges the NCAA to voluntarily eliminate alcohol ads during radio and television broadcasts of collegiate sports events. That action would affirm universities' commitment to discourage alcohol use among underage students and other young fans.
Alcohol ads appeared twice as often, on average, during NCAA championship broadcasts than during other sports programs, and 16 times as often, on average, than during all television programs. Among the viewers of those alcohol ads were large concentrations of avid fans who are underage college or high school students.
Andy Geiger, athletics director at Ohio State University, thinks "it's inconsistent to…discourage underage drinking and turn around and huckster the stuff on your [college sports] broadcasts." CSPI polling shows that a large majority of Americans agree.
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See the Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV
Friday, April 9, 2004
FEDS CLAMP DOWN ON 'LOW CARB' BEER CLAIMS
Advertising Age, April 8, 2004
WASHINGTON-- The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau today set the first requirements in how to use the term "low carb" in marketing for beer and alcohol beverages. The bureau banned even limited health claims in advertising and said it intended to police such claims aggressively.
The agency described today's ruling as an "interim policy," pending more formal and broader policy. Under the ruling, beverages must have below 7 grams of carbohydrates per serving to qualify to be called "low carb." The bureau also defined how the serving size should be calculated, which could affect some brands that have been claiming low-carb status.
Any labeling or advertising statement that implies that consumption of the product has health effects will be evaluated ... and will be considered to be in violation of these regulations if it is false or if it tends to mislead consumers by presenting materially incomplete information about the health effects of alcohol consumption," the bureau said, adding that even humorous ads will get scrutiny.
"Representations that imply that alcohol beverages may be part of a weight maintenance or weight loss plan, or that consumers may drink more of such beverages because of their low calories or carbohydrate content, mislead consumers by presenting incomplete information about the health effects of nutritional content of alcohol beverages," said the ruling.
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See how the Beer Industry Taps into Fitness
Alcoholic beverages banned
Newsday, NY, April 9, 2004
State parks policy has unofficially barred most patrons at the Jones Beach Theater from buying alcoholic beverages since 1988. Yesterday, that policy became official.
Reacting to overtures by the concert promoter at what is now the Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater about resuming alcoholic beverage sales, the state commission that oversees the theater bottled up the idea.
The vote, which came in response to a plea from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, means wine and beer will continue to be available only in a VIP tent, which is not open to the public. Denna Cohen, president of MADD Long Island, said when alcohol was sold, accidents and incidents of rowdy behavior increased significantly. It was unruly behavior that prompted the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to act administratively in 1988.
Myron Blumenfeld, a former commission chairman, said he told parks officials at the time that "we're sending the wrong message. We invite all these people to our wonderful concerts. ... We ask them to drink beer and then drive home."
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Raising Awareness About Underage Drinking
WLUC, MI, April 8, 2004
High school students and the Delta Menominee Health Department are trying to raise awareness about underage drinking. They are kicking off a new green ribbon campaign to coincide with prom and graduation season. Yesterday student volunteers and members of the Escanaba Students Against Drunk Driving group tied on green ribbons. The goal is to raise awareness about the dangers of underage drinking. Members say parents need to be just as responsible as the students.
Student Eric Dombrowski says, "There are so many accidents, especially with parents buying alcohol for their children, and then the kids make unsafe decisions and ending up taking people's lives who don't deserve that."
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Facts on Alcohol and Youth
Thursday, April 8, 2004
'Stings' to target teen alcohol use
Marin Independent Journal, CA, April 7, 2004
After consulting with the Marin County Office of Education and a raft of local nonprofit organizations, the Department of Health and Human Services came up with the new, more aggressive strategy for curbing alcohol and marijuana use - particularly among minors. The new strategy...is aimed at attacking the easy accessibility and social acceptability of alcohol and marijuana in Marin....
" Alcohol use is the norm in our county today," said Catherine Condon, prevention coordinator for the division of the county's health department that deals with alcohol, drug and tobacco programs. A report she presented during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors contained a slew of statistics gleaned from recent survey results.
Condon said that fewer than half of Marin youths surveyed reported that they are consistently asked for identification when attempting to purchase alcohol. The number of alcohol sales outlets per capita in Marin also exceeds the state average, she said.
Health officials will also try to diminish the acceptability of alcohol use by trying to convince organizations receiving alcohol industry sponsorships to find alternative sponsors. In addition, health officials will conduct media literacy classes at local schools to teach youths how to view alcohol industry ads critically, and will offer training to bar and restaurant workers on how to avoid selling to minors.
Editor's note: Although the newspaper’s headline above emphasizes Marin County’s plans to use so-called “sting” operations to deter alcohol sales to youth, the new prevention plan actually balances such enforcement with other proactive environmental prevention strategies.
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State is pressed to clamp down on teen drinking
Houston Chronicle, TX, April 6, 2004
Advocates of the tougher restrictions urged the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures to consider measures such as curbing alcohol advertising and restricting border access to Mexico for partying teenagers.
"Education is important, but it is not enough," said Lynda Infante, a senior at Mercedes High School in the Rio Grande Valley.
Infante argued that advertising portrays drinking alcohol as a fun activity with no consequences. She said alcohol advertising should be restricted to minimize the chances that children will have irresponsible attitudes about drinking.
Vanessa Miller, a registered nurse in Dallas, said the state should increase excise taxes on alcohol sales to provide resources to fund children's health and education programs, including alcohol awareness.
The Texas excise tax for beer is $6 per barrel, which works out to 44 cents for a case of 24 bottles of beer, Greinert said. Table wine is taxed at 20 cents a bottle, and hard liquor at $2.40 a gallon.
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Make sure teenagers have a safe and sober spring break
Pasadena Star News, CA, April 7, 2004
Spring is here and, for many young people, that means a week off from school. Popular movies, television specials and cable programming have associated spring break with the beach, excessive drinking, promiscuity, and wild parties.
As celebrations become more prolific, more impaired students engage in behaviors that put their health, and the public's health, and safety at risk.
This spring break is a perfect opportunity for parents, community organizations, businesses and schools to become more involved in promoting fun, safe and memorable experiences.
Alcohol and drug abuse prevention advocates are doing their part by providing teens and young adults with alternative activities to discourage underage, excessive drinking.
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Coors to make run for Senate
The Denver Post, CO, April 8, 2004
Peter Coors, head of the Coors Brewing dynasty, is running for the U.S. Senate, potentially throwing the Republican Party into a high-profile and expensive primary.
Coors, a political novice, and his company have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to political candidates over the years. Since 2000, he and the company have given more than $300,000 to candidates and political committees.
His parents, Holly and Joe Coors, were synonymous with conservative activism in the 1980s, playing a big role in electing Ronald Reagan president and using the family foundation to develop the right-leaning Heritage Foundation. In those days, the beer company was boycotted for years by unions and Hispanics, who accused the company of an anti-labor and anti-minority bent.
Peter Coors is depicted in Dan Baum's family history "Citizen Coors" as the Cornell-trained scion who got an MBA and tried to drag the tradition-bound company into the modern age of marketing.
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See coverage of Coors' co-promotion with Scary Movie 3
Information about Coors' targeting of youth
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Who's monitoring the media?
Union-News, MA, April 6, 2004
...who is monitoring the television and movie screens? That's a good question, according to experts who study the media's portrayal of alcohol and drinking.
"Young adolescents are trying to develop their own identities. You don't know who you are and you don't know where you want to be. Adolescents are very perceptive about their external environment," Sargent said. "They're looking for role models. They're looking for people to emulate. A bigger and bigger part of their world is the media."
"Think about the way drinking is portrayed in the movies. It's portrayed as something fun to do socially. People are having fun. There are usually no bad consequences. People most often have sex after they drink. The movies don't focus on the morbidity that can result from drinking. The reality is not that often depicted," Sargent said. "You have to help them understand that what they're seeing in movies, especially when it comes to drinking and smoking, isn't the real story."
"What we know about youth is they drink the most heavily advertised brands," Linowski said. Linowski said "drink responsibly" and "know when to say when" campaigns aren't the answer because under-age drinkers don't know what it means to drink responsibly or know when to say when. Instead, she said a public health approach needs to be taken to fix the problem.
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Tuesday, April 6, 2004
Analysis: College drinking binges on
Washington Times, DC, April 6, 2004
"It is clear that the nation's colleges are collectively concerned about student drinking on their campuses but are quite divided about what programs to put in place to alleviate the problem of heavy and destructive drinking," said Henry Wechsler, director of College Alcohol Studies at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Twenty-one percent said they got funding from the alcohol industry, with Anheuser-Busch leading the way, and 12 percent received money from private foundations. All of this is evidence that colleges and universities are trying, but there is also ample evidence they are failing.
Schools that receive funding from federal or state sources or the alcohol industry are most likely to use education or social norms marketing as their method. "It's possible that the availability of funding for social norms campaigns has influenced many campuses to turn to this approach," Wechsler said. Wechsler said that is unfortunate, because studies show social norms marketing has not been effective.
The study cautions that colleges may want to reconsider prevention initiatives that focus exclusively on demand or supply. "They may also want to examine the extent to which funding is the driving force shaping the direction of their alcohol initiatives," it said.
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Californians Urged to Participate in Free Alcohol Screenings; Study Finds Binge Drinking Prevalent among 18 - 34-Year-Olds
BusinessWire, April 5, 2004
The Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (ADP) is urging California residents to take advantage of free alcohol screenings in their community during National Alcohol Screening Day on April 8. National Alcohol Screening Day is designed to raise public awareness about the consequences of at-risk drinking and the effects of alcohol abuse. It is an annual event held throughout California that coincides with National Alcohol Awareness Month. Confidential screenings are conducted statewide by healthcare professionals and if individuals are found to be high-risk they are referred for education or possible treatment.
A recent nationwide study found that binge drinking is prevalent among California youth. The study, published this month in the American Journal of Public Health, is the first of its kind to measure the prevalence of binge drinking in 120 metropolitan U.S. cities. Researchers defined binge drinkers as men who drink five drinks in a row and women who consume four drinks in a row on one occasion. Binge drinkers are typically males between the ages of 18 and 34, the study found.
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Study Details Midwest Binge Drinking
Kansas City Star, MO, April 4, 2004
The Quad Cities is listed as No. 6 and Cedar Rapids is listed as No. 7 in binge drinking ratings out of 120 largest U.S. metropolitan areas surveyed in the study released in this month's American Journal of Public Health.
Binge drinking is defined as imbibing five or more alcoholic drinks over a few hours.
More emphasis should be placed on telling the public about the dangers of excessive alcohol use, said Barb Gay, director of prevention services for the Area Substance Abuse Council. "Kids who drink early and drink quite a bit do (often) go on to have substance abuse problems later in life," she said.
The survey, which relied on data provided by states to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and focused on those 18 and older, had bad news for the Midwest as a whole. Six of the top 10 metropolitan areas are in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
"In general, I think we give people mixed messages about intoxication," Brewer said. "People often regard getting intoxicated as something not serious." Local drinking ordinances, religious views and perceptions about drinking are all factors in determining binge drinking rates, Brewer said.
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Monday, April 5, 2004
Neighbors battle spread of liquor stores in Oakland
Oakland Tribune, CA, April 5, 2004
When the owner of a grocery-liquor store wrote Mayor Jerry Brown complaining that the new Millsmont Farmers Market was disrupting his business, residents of the neighborhood fought back.
"Basically, we've got to take back our neighborhood," Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary) said, noting that there are three liquor stores on one block. "This should be a thriving neighborhood, but it's not. One of the reasons is liquor stores."
Mariano Gonzales of the 60th Avenue Home Alert association wondered aloud how liquor store owners can keep selling alcohol, when a poor resident in the area can be banned from public housing for life because a family member had drugs. "Around here, alcohol is the number one drug of choice," he said.
Joan Kiley, director of the Alcohol Policy Network in Berkeley, a nonprofit that examines problems caused by liquor stores and lobbies for legislation, sided with the Seminary-MacArthur neighbors. "Research shows that the more alcohol outlets you have in a neighborhood, you're going to get an increase in crime and nuisances," Kiley said. "And outlets that are not run very well become magnets for crime."
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Family starts program to change attitudes on underage drinking
Green Bay News-Chronicle, WI, April 5, 2004
Scott and Kathy Gille's purpose is to change a community's attitude toward drinking, in particular underage drinking.
The Gilles hope to rally community leaders, local governments and faith congregations to help build a coalition to pursue the common goal of reducing underage drinking in the Luxemburg-Casco School District and beyond. Toward that end, they have launched the Underage Drinking Education/Watch program.
In its infancy, the program's focus is to raise money for more school-sponsored education programs designed to heighten awareness of the dangers of underage drinking. But the Gilles believe education must extend beyond the classroom and into the community. They advocate an underage drinking watch program intended to identify underage drinkers, party locations and adults who allow such parties at their residence.
"As a society, we have to have a change of attitude about alcohol consumption," she said. "Think about the message we send to our kids."
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Vanderbilt not swallowing beer-store idea
Tennessean, TN, April 3, 2004
Student leaders at Vanderbilt thought they had a great idea and certainly a unique one: a campus beer store where meal-plan cards could be used to buy favorite malt beverages.
But the idea was definitely not a hit with administrators, who basically dismissed the notion as nonsense once word of the plan began spreading around campus last week. ''We are an educational institution; we are not in the business of promoting drinking,'' university Vice Chancellor Mark Bandas said in a statement.
Support for the beer store is far from unanimous among students. Some worry that it would make beer easier to get and increase a date-rape problem perceived to be caused by alcohol abuse.
''It would definitely promote underage drinking - as if it's not promoted already,'' freshman Steven Harris said of the beer store.
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Agency gets tougher on youth drinking
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 2, 2004
To raise the visibility of Alcohol Awareness Month in April, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is rolling out a new program that could help sober California's youth by scaring alcohol vendors and making drinks very hard to come by.
A new statewide program calling for an immediate investigation whenever alcohol is found at the scene of an accident involving people younger than 21 will kick off next week, said Mark DeSio, department spokesman.
As part of the Target Responsibility for Alcohol Connected Emergencies program, state investigators will work simultaneously with local law enforcement to identify if and where alcoholic beverages were illegally sold to minors. If a business licensed by the department is found to have provided alcohol to a minor, the department will suspend or revoke its liquor license, DeSio said.
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Friday, April 2, 2004
March Madness: Another Slam Dunk for the Alcohol Industry?
Dwayne Proctor, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, April 1, 2004
We are now in the midst of the widely anticipated March Madness basketball tournament... it's time for the NCAA and university athletic programs to make a clean break with the alcohol industry, starting with the March basketball tournament. The NCAA argues that it already has taken steps to restrict alcohol ads during the tournament. And yet the tournament still attracts more alcohol ads than any other sporting event.
The beer companies insist their close association with college athletics is in no way linked to the drinking problems on college campuses. They also would have us believe that their ad campaigns -- say, using 22-year-old golfer Sergio Garcia and Kid Rock to promote specific brands and using PG-13 movies like Scary Movie 3 to pitch another label of suds -- are not targeting the college crowd, which just happens to spend about $5 billion a year on beer.
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See coverage of our action againt Coors and Scary Movie 3
Looser state law spurs host of wet-dry votes
The Dallas Morning News, April 1, 2004
Pro-alcohol forces across Texas are taking advantage of new, less-burdensome requirements and flooding voters with petition drives and local-option elections. Supporters tout the economic benefits of loosening the alcohol prohibitions. They say beer and wine sales will make cities more attractive to supermarkets and large retailers.
Opponents contend that alcohol sales lead to increased crime and drunken driving, and they scoff at the purported economic benefits. "I couldn't see any benefit for our city or county, that it was going to lead to underage drinking, and require more police protection," said Rockwall Mayor Ken Jones, who opposed calling elections to legalize beer, wine and liquor sales in two Rockwall County commissioner precincts. The issues failed at the polls in February.
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Alcohol and college sports: Schools can't find right mix
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 2, 2004
Faced with increasing pressure from parents and public-health advocates, colleges are desperately seeking ways to tame tailgating, eliminate beer-sparked fan riots, keep star players and big-name coaches out of trouble and, in what might be the athletic director's ultimate paradox, balance alcohol's often-tragic consequences with its revenue-producing potential.
Administrators, tempted by the marketing money that alcohol producers offer, often must choose between principles and revenue. During the 2003 NCAA basketball tournament, there were more televised beer commercials than during the Super Bowl, World Series, and a season's worth of Monday Night Football games combined.
Anheuser-Busch had contributed $2 million toward the construction of Louisville's football facility, Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. And, according to newspaper reports, Jack Daniel's bourbon has made contributions to the university that are "well into seven figures."
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Thursday, April 1, 2004
April is Alcohol Awareness Month
Ridgway Record, PA, March 31, 2004
This year's theme is "Save a Life-End Underage Drinking." The idea to highlight underage drinking during alcohol awareness month stems from a report compiled by the National Academy of Sciences. The report, titled "Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility," brought to light a lack of efforts to reduce underage drinking.
Possible solutions to the problem will center on the National Academy of Sciences' suggestions, including a decrease in media advertisements glamorizing alcohol and an increase in policies to thwart abuse. Keg tagging is a topic of debate in the state Senate and the House will soon be deciding if adults should be more responsible when an underage drinking party is discovered.
April 2 through 4 is alcohol free weekend and ...the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism will be sponsoring a national screening day on April 8.
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Coalition targets attitudes on teen drinking
Berkshire Eagle, MA, April 1, 2004
Erica Schmitz of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition said that fighting teenage drinking can't be limited to lecturing teens and their parents. It takes a concerted effort from the entire community.
"Blaming youth for teenage drinking is like blaming fish for dying in a polluted stream," Schmitz said. "We're trying to clean up the river, and change what we call the environmental factors that contribute to teenage drinking."
With that goal in mind, NBCC has launched an effort in Adams and Williamstown to enlist the community in changing attitudes toward underage drinking. "This isn't about Prohibition," said NBCC Executive Director Al Bashevkin. "We believe each community can take more control about the messages we're sending our kids."
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Idaho’s single liquor-control officer can’t enforce laws on sale of alcohol
Idaho Statesman, ID, April 1, 2004
Idaho employs a single enforcement officer to make sure the 3,500 establishments licensed to sell alcohol follow state laws, a situation a top enforcement official calls “a public safety hazard.”
State law charges a division of the state police with overseeing liquor licenses and enforcing liquor laws. But the lone enforcement officer spends the majority of his time processing applications for new liquor licenses. That means the state´s liquor-control division rarely undertakes life-saving prevention projects to keep people from driving drunk and to keep alcohol out of the hands of underage people.
The gaps were highlighted in special sting operations last year set up to catch people selling alcohol to people who are underage. Almost half of the establishments tested in southern Idaho sold to minors. And in one Boise check, 70 percent of the bars, restaurants and stores sold alcohol to undercover youth.
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