Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wants to get low-alcohol malt beverages off grocery store shelves and out of the reach of young, novice drinkers.
Shurtleff and Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe have sent letters to attorneys general throughout the United States, saying stricter controls are needed over drinks such as Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Silver and Jack Daniel's Original Hard Cola, because advertising is enticing underage drinkers to try the beverages.
The alcoholic colas, lemonade and fruit-flavored drinks often carry the distiller's name in the hope "that new drinkers will start on these sweet 'branded' drinks and move to the distiller's brand of hard liquor when the drinker matures," wrote Shurtleff and Rowe, co-chairmen of the National Association of Attorneys General's Youth Access to Alcohol Task Force.
On Thursday, Shurtleff will ask the Utah Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to back legislation requiring that malt drinks be sold only in state liquor outlets. He hopes to convince the commission of the need for more controls, even though malt beverages contain less alcohol than beer, which can legally be sold in grocery stores if the alcohol content is 3.2 percent or less.
Shurtleff will present American Medical Association polls showing that more teenage girls drink the so-called "alcopops" than boys - one-third of girls compared with one-fifth of boys - and that one in six underage girls tried the drinks within the past six months. The nationwide polls, conducted in 2004 by Teenage Research Unlimited and Harris Interactive, questioned 741 teenagers and 2,768 adults, respectively.
"We are delighted the attorneys general are taking some action on a serious problem," said Donald Zeigler, deputy director of the AMA's Office of Alcohol and other Drug Abuse. "We are concerned about the drinking level of young women, particularly those in colleges, and of young, underage girls."
The AMA found that alcohol advertising in magazines declined between 2001 and 2002 in every category except low-alcohol drinks, which grew "by a staggering 216 percent." In addition, underage girls saw 95 percent more magazine advertising for the sweet alcoholic drinks than did women of legal age.
For her part, Debbie Breitling of Salt Lake City wonders if state controls over malt beverages is sexist.
"Why can my husband buy beer at the grocery store while the state would require me to go to a liquor store for a malt [wine] cooler?" she asked. "As far as advertising, why is it OK that boys see beer ads but girls can't see ads for malt drinks? States should be making sure that neither underage boys nor girls get these beverages." Jim Olsen, president of the Utah Food Industry Association, said his group opposes restricting sales of malt beverages to state liquor outlets, in part because some beverages contain no distilled spirits and the level of distilled spirits in other flavored drinks is less than that of non-alcoholic beer.
"Many of our consumers - including women - prefer flavored malt beverages," he said. "Adults, age 21 and older, should be allowed to buy these drinks without having the hassle of going to a state liquor store."
Added John Kaestner, vice president of consumer affairs at Anheuser-Busch, based in St. Louis: "Underage drinking is illegal, and the way to control it is not by raising the price of alcohol beverages for responsible adults, but by making sure that parents set rules and consequences for their children and don't provide alcohol to minors, that retailers aggressively check [identifications] and that law enforcement officials enforce the law."
dawn@sltrib.com |
