www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Poll: Maryland Residents Support Alcohol Tax Increase to Support Treatment. A poll commissioned by the Maryland chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence found that 72 percent of state residents back a proposed 10-cent-per-drink tax if the revenues were used to pay for addiction treatment, services for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, and healthcare for uninsured residents. (Source: Join Together, 3/5/10)

A measure that would have raised the alcohol tax in West Virginia and used the revenues to pay for addiction treatment and prevention programs has been killed. The Charleston Gazette reported Feb. 24 that the bill died in a legislative committee. However, lawmakers separately approved a pair of bills that would put a $300-million cap on Medicaid spending and dedicate any excess to paying for addiction services. Some estimates put the reserve amount at $60 million. The bill had called for raising the beer tax from 2 cents per bottle to 7 cents. (Source: Join Together, 3/1/10)

Dear Legislator,
I support AB 1694 — The Alcohol-Related Services Program It’s time for Big Alcohol to pay its fair share of California’s annual $38.4 billion in alcohol-related trauma care, hospitalization, treatment, prevention and criminal justice costs. (Source: Marin Institute, 2/20/10)

In this prolonged down economy, most states are looking at any and every idea that might produce revenue to cover budget shortfalls. In many control states, or alcohol beverage control states as they are sometimes called, the recession has led to a wave of sometimes heated discussions in state legislatures over whether to privatize the sale of alcohol in order to generate more revenue for the states. (Source: Marin Institute, 2/20/10)

Montana Supreme Court Justice and former Attorney General Mike McGrath has unveiled a ballot initiative that would earmark $5 million per year in state alcohol taxes to pay for addiction treatment, prevention, and drug/DUI courts. The Montana Alcohol Abuse and Drug-Free Plan was announced during McGrath’s recent appearance before the legislature’s Law & Justice Interim Committee. (Source: Join Together, 2/12/10)

In Denmark people drank less alcohol in 2009 than the previous year – the first drop for several years. The latest figures for first three quarters of 2009 show a 20% decrease in the quantity of taxable alcohol reported sold across the board. And the average of 11.7 litres of pure alcohol bought per person for the year was 1.5 litres less than five years ago. The Danish Brewers’ Association (Bryggeriforeningen) said that beer sales within the industry decreased by 8% last year compared to 2008. According to Statistics Denmark alcohol consumption had been gradually climbing for many years prior to 2009. (Quelle: Google Alkohol News, 12.2.10) globalmalt.de, 9.2.10 Comment: Denmark still belongs to the European top consumers.

Alaska Senate Majority Leader Johnny Ellis has proposed directing all tax revenues from sales of alcoholic beverages to paying for addiction treatment and prevention programs, the Associated Press reported Jan. 27.
Ellis recently introduced legislation that would roughly double the $40 million in tax money the state currently directs to treatment and prevention. The current law calls for using half of alcohol tax collections on addiction programs. (Source: Join Together, 2/9/10)

A proposal to use beer-tax revenues to fund an alcohol detoxification program in the notorious town of Whiteclay, Neb., is being opposed by alcohol industry lobbyists, the Omaha World-Herald reported Feb. 4.
Whiteclay is home to four stores that sell only beer, and most of that to residents of the “dry” nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The reservation is plagued by alcoholism, and Whiteclay has been dubbed the “Skid Row of the Plains.” (Source: Join Together, 2/8/10)

Drinking at the last chance saloon…or – there is no place for integrity in academic medicine.
Distinguished voices are lining up behind England’s chief medical officer Liam Donaldson in support of a minimum price for alcohol. The BMA and the Royal College of Physicians have made a good case, and this week they are joined by the combined weight of the Faculty of Public Health and the Royal Society for Public Health. These two bodies list a minimum price for alcohol among 12 policy changes that will save many lives and relieve pressure on the NHS. As the faculty’s president Alan Maryon-Davies says, in lean times such act ion is all the more essential…. (Source: Google Alkohol News, 2/7/10) schiwago.blogspot.com, 2/7/10

A Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates wants to raise the start’s beer tax from 1 cent per bottle to 2 cents and use the expected $10 million in proceeds to pay for addiction treatment and prevention, the Charleston Gazette reported Feb. 3. Delegate Bill Hamilton said the bill, HB4253, was inspired by his son’s struggle with addiction and the state’s lack of treatment services. The state’s alcohol industry vowed to fight the measure; a similar bill was killed last year. (Source: Join Together, 2/4/10)