VALLEJO ALCOHOL POLICY COALITION

Problems Fact Sheet

 

Prepared by:

The Vallejo Alcohol Policy Coalition

 

Issues:

Availability of Alcohol and its Relationship to Violence and Nuisance Behavior

Alcohol availability is related to violent assaults. Communities or neighborhoods that have more bars and liquor stores per capita experience more assaults (Scribner 1995; Roncek and Maier 1991).

The existing literature persuasively shows that controlling alcohol availability does reduce violence by reduction alcohol consumption. Philip Cook and Michael J. Moore in Alcohol and Interpersonal Violence, Fostering Multidisciplinary Perspectives.

Based on this new theoretical model and on previous research that shows that per capita alcohol consumption will rise as alcohol availability expands, it follows that an increase in alcohol availability will increase rates of violence. They test this theory presenting evidence from a study of 256 American cities that indicates that a combination of poverty and alcohol availability affects the homicide rate. That is, cities with higher poverty rates and more liquor outlets had higher homicide rates. The authors’ findings regarding the relationship between homicide rates and alcohol outlet density hold even after taking into account other factors that might be related to homicides (e.g. population density). The authors’ also present data that an increase in the minimum legal drinking age – and the resulting decrease in beer consumption among youth – reduced the number of youth who were homicide victims between 1976 and 1983. Robert Nash Parker, with Linda-Anne Rebhun, Albany NY, State University of New York Press, 1995.

McKinnon et al (1995) found that the availability of alcohol in off-site alcohol outlets, including liquor stores and stores with beer and wine licenses was substantially related to arrests for public drunkenness and disturbing the peace. Rabow and Watts (1983) established a relationship between physical availability of alcohol, different types of outlets and arrests for public intoxication.

Scribner (1995) found that in communities with 100 or more alcohol outlets and a population of 50,000 ore more, it is possible to project an annual increase of 2.5 violet crimes for every additional outlet added in that community. In further research of Los Angeles County, Scribner found that higher levels of alcohol outlet density are geographically associated with higher rates of assaultive violence independent of unemployment, ethnic / racial makeup, income, age, structure, city size, household size, and female-headed households. Of significance, is his finding that in a typical Los Angeles County city with 50,000 residents, 10 outlets, and 570 offenses per year, one new outlet was associated with 3.4 additional assaultive violence offenses in 1990.

Alcohol Availability and Drinking and Driving

A recent study by Gruenewald and Ponick 1995, found that increased sales of beer (and, to lesser extent, of spirits and wine) were associated with more single vehicle nighttime (SVN) fatal crashes.

In the United States, Scribner et. al. (1994) in a study that examined the relationship between alcohol outlet density in 72 cities in the Los Angles area and motor vehicle crashes, found indications that increased alcohol availability is geographically associated with increased alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes independent of measured confounders.

Public Health Responses to Alcohol-Related Problems

Control Policies

Restrictions on outlet density through spacing can impact outlet concentration, thereby reducing overall alcohol availability

Several policies that restrict alcohol access have also been shown to reduce alcohol related motor vehicle injuries, for example taxation, Responsible Beverage Service, and dram shop liability laws (holding alcohol servers responsible for the harm that intoxicated or underage patrons cause to other people).

Availability

Over the past 15 years a shift has occurred in how alcohol-related problems are understood. Rather than perceiving alcohol-related problems as simply the result of behaviors of individual with drinking problems, the ATOD field is recognizing that the general availability of alcohol can have a significant impact on alcohol-related problems rates. Alcohol problems are now understood from a public health perspective in which individual drinking behaviors are viewed in the context of the environment of physical availability of alcohol.

In their work, Bruun et al (1975) Finland, found that age limitations, type and frequency of outlets and hours of sale, alcohol content and type of beverage, marketing and profit seeking and pricing and taxation all impact alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems.

Research by Moore and Gerstein (1981) dispels the notion that alcohol problems are caused solely by alcoholics and demonstrates to the contrary, that these problems are associated with the general drinking public. This work, published by the National

Academy of Sciences, firmly established the relationship between alcohol availability, alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems.

More recently, Edwards et al (1994) documented the relationship between availability, consumption, and problems. Although much of the research was done in other countries, the work still makes a compelling case for the link between alcohol availability, alcohol consumption, and alcohol related problems.

Rush and Gliksman (1986) performed a statistical analysis of the causal relationship between increased availability and increased aggregate levels of alcohol problems. Their findings support the view that restricting the availability of alcohol would lead to a reduction in alcohol consumption levels and in turn a reduction in the levels of alcohol-related problems.

Gruenewald et al (1993) found that alcohol availability and demand may be simultaneously related. Also, they found that greater outlets densities were related to greater alcohol consumption for beer and greater levels of consumption were related to greater outlet densities.

Local Considerations Related to The Sale of Alcohol and Gasoline
    1. Sales at gas stations are designed to promote "impulse" buying including the sale of alcohol thereby potentially increasing the risk of immediate consumption in vehicles.

    2. Currently approximately 15% of the outlets that sell gas also sell alcohol in Vallejo. Allowing alcohol would give a station selling alcohol an unfair advantage over its competition.

    3. The City has set a good precedent, one being modeled by other California cities– we should try to maintain the trend.

    4. We are creating a healthy environment for our citizens by reducing overall alcohol availability and related problems.

    5. The 85% of stations that sell gasoline do make a profit without selling alcohol. The Shell station on the corner of Tennessee and Sonoma is a very good example.

    6. The Council has realized the importance of reducing the number of outlets in the past by not allowing alcohol at other outlets (including Shell, both the one above and the one on Benicia Road and the Arco on Sonoma and Curtola). A "yes" to alcohol at this outlet would open the floodgates for ALL gas station owners to come back to Council and request that they too be allowed to sell alcohol.

    7. Property in Vallejo is becoming extremely valuable and if a new station chooses not to build without alcohol sales, you can be sure someone else will build at that location.

    8. There are many other alternatives to selling alcohol at gas stations that will allow them to make a larger profit without compromising the City’s image or it’s safety.

     

    April 2001

    Alcohol Policy Coalition                         Fighting Back Partnership