I am one who should have been at the meeting that discussed beer and wine sales in grocery stores (hereafter BWSGS), but I wasn’t, and I’m sorry.
When I first heard of the licenses, my belief was that as accessibility of alcohol in a community increased, the number of alcohol related problems increased. I decided to research and find out if this is true.
During the 1980s and '90s, when many states and Canadian Provinces were debating BWSGS, studies were done to determine the effects on consumption. Across studies, the results were, “In three of four states, wine consumption was found to be significantly greater in the years of the changes than one would expect.” In New Hampshire — 13 percent increase, in Idaho — 150 percent increase!
Earlier this year, Dr. Chikritzhs of the National Drug Research Institute of Australia stated, “You can’t get around the fact that increased alcohol availability leads to increased consumption, leads to increased alcohol-related harm, and that’s the bottom line.”
What kind of harm? Addiction, domestic abuse and DUI’s, to begin.
Each year, the United States Department of Transportation records the number of fatal alcohol related crashes per state and reports the number of deaths per 100,000 people. I looked at these numbers in relation to one factor — whether or not the state allows BWSGS. States like Illinois that allow BWSGS (remember, not all communities in these states allow BWSGS — like Morton, currently) had a death rate that was half again as many as states that do not allow BWSGS.
Morton Trustees, please listen. As one research paper concluded — “The structure of the retail alcohol distribution system has a significant effect on alcohol sales. We recommend that the social costs associated with increased alcohol use be carefully considered before such major policy changes are contemplated.”
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I am one who should have been at the meeting that discussed beer and wine sales in grocery stores (hereafter BWSGS), but I wasn’t, and I’m sorry.
When I first heard of the licenses, my belief was that as accessibility of alcohol in a community increased, the number of alcohol related problems increased. I decided to research and find out if this is true.
During the 1980s and '90s, when many states and Canadian Provinces were debating BWSGS, studies were done to determine the effects on consumption. Across studies, the results were, “In three of four states, wine consumption was found to be significantly greater in the years of the changes than one would expect.” In New Hampshire — 13 percent increase, in Idaho — 150 percent increase!
Earlier this year, Dr. Chikritzhs of the National Drug Research Institute of Australia stated, “You can’t get around the fact that increased alcohol availability leads to increased consumption, leads to increased alcohol-related harm, and that’s the bottom line.”
What kind of harm? Addiction, domestic abuse and DUI’s, to begin.
Each year, the United States Department of Transportation records the number of fatal alcohol related crashes per state and reports the number of deaths per 100,000 people. I looked at these numbers in relation to one factor — whether or not the state allows BWSGS. States like Illinois that allow BWSGS (remember, not all communities in these states allow BWSGS — like Morton, currently) had a death rate that was half again as many as states that do not allow BWSGS.
Morton Trustees, please listen. As one research paper concluded — “The structure of the retail alcohol distribution system has a significant effect on alcohol sales. We recommend that the social costs associated with increased alcohol use be carefully considered before such major policy changes are contemplated.”
