Why Do We Drink So Much?

1. Community laws and norms encourage or discourage alcohol abuse.10

2. Cold, dark winters are also considered to be factors as people in northern climates tend to drink more.

3. Alcohol outlet density or the number of outlets selling alcohol also significantly influences consumption rates, with consumption increasing as the number of outlets increases.11,12

Most people react poorly under stress after they cross the threshold of 2 drinks. They become less discerning about the long-term consequences of their actions.

-Anchorage Daily News, 11/11/97, "Alcohol Related Injuries Happen All Too Often"

Alaska statute stipulates there should be no more than 1 liquor store and 1 bar per every 3,000 population. Given Anchorage's population, this means 81 alcohol outlets of each type. The number of bars in Anchorage, however, is 147 almost twice this limit. The number of liquor stores in Anchorage is 107 or 32% over statute limits. Anchorage alcohol density is this high because alcohol licenses were grandfathered in when the statute was passed.

4. The price of alcohol also significantly influences consumption rates. Research studies consistently show that a rise in price usually leads to a drop in consumption for all types of drinkers-light, moderate, and heavy-except the heaviest-drinking 5 percent and ill-informed heavy drinkers.13 Studies also have found that higher alcohol prices are associated with a reduction in the frequency of heavy or binge drinking (having 5 or more drinks in a day).14

In Anchorage, the real price of alcohol has declined by more than 50% since 1961.

5. A factor which influences the price of alcohol is the level of Federal and State taxation. Alcohol taxes have been traditionally levied to:

1. Reduce alcohol-related problems in the community by reducing alcohol consumption, and

2. Offset the high economic cost to the community when alcohol is misused.

The intent is not to prohibit drinking, it is to reduce binge drinking over a short period of time to reduce injury and crime.

Studies that have examined direct linkages between alcohol taxes or prices and various adverse outcomes that are often associated with alcohol consumption have found statistically significant effects in many cases. The studies have found that when taxes are increased many specific adverse effects of alcohol consumption have declined. These findings lend support to the view that tax or price policies can be useful tools to reduce alcohol-related harm.15

Among the effects various studies found to be statistically significant to higher alcohol prices were suicide rates, state motor vehicle fatality rates, the incidence of drunk driving, rape, assault, and robbery.16

Approximately 53% of men and women in the U.S. report that one or more of their close relatives has a drinking problem.

-Alcoholism: Getting the Facts, NIH, 1996

References

10 University of Washington, Hawkins, David J., Catalano, Richard F., and Miller, Janet Y., 1993. Risk and Protective Factors for Alcohol and Other Drug problems in Adolescence and Early Adulthood: Implications for Substance Abuse Prevention.

11 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1993. Alcohol Health & Research World, "Alcohol Availability and the Ecology of Drinking behavior," Vol. 17, No. 1, 1993.

12 University of Southern California Chronicle, 1995. More Bars and Liquor Stores Equals More Violent Crime, Research Shows, Volume 14, No. 29, April 24, 1995.

13 U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Intitute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1997. Ninth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health, from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, June, 1997.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.

16Ibid.