The Substance Abuse Policy Research Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently funded a study on the effects alcohol taxes have on alcohol-related deaths. The results have proved surprising.

"In the first study of its kind to directly measure the effect of state alcohol tax changes on deaths from alcohol-related diseases, researchers found that raising alcohol taxes had two to four times the impact of other common prevention efforts such as school programs or media campaigns."

Researchers studied tax increase impacts in the state of Alaska, which is the first state to impose significant increases. During the years in which tax increases were implemented - 1983 and 2002 - Alaska saw 29 percent and 11 percent drops (respectively) in alcohol-related deaths. Source: Science Daily

Labels: alcohol_sales, death, taxes

An Arkansas state panel has recommended that alcoholic beverages like Mike's Hard Lemonade be categorized as hard liquor and sold only in liquor stores rather than grocery stores or gas stations. The task force also recommended raising sales taxes on the beverages.

"The recommendations, six in all, are designed to attack underage drinking because alcohol is generally the first drug young people try and is considered 'the premiere gatekeeper' to illegal drug use, Arkansas Drug Director Fran Flener said."

Other recommendations included keeping the state's minimum drinking age at 21 and enforcing its social host liability law, which holds individuals responsible when underage drinking occurs on their property. Source: Arkansas News Bureau

Labels: alcohol_sales, teenage_drinking, underage_drinking

A recent U.S. study set out to discover whether sports stadiums sell alcohol to underage drinkers. Researchers discovered that many do.

"Nearly one in five people posing as underage drinkers, and three out of four people pretending to be drunk fans were able to buy alcoholic beverages at professional sporting events, according to the findings, published Wednesday in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research."

The study sent decoys into 16 sports stadiums in five states where they tried to buy alcohol both in the stands and at a booth. For most, buying alcohol in the stands was easier. Source: Whistler Magazine

Labels: alcohol_abuse, alcohol_sales, underage_drinking