This just in—people drink a lot in Wisconsin. Over the last few months, the State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse has been examining ways to change Wisconsin's alcohol-based culture. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, especially college students in Madison. Although not all students on campus come from small Wisconsin towns that rely solely on alcohol for weekend entertainment, most of us drank before coming to school and were more than ready to continue the habit once we arrived in Madison, Wisconsin.
The council—which eventually hopes to turn their proposals into state legislation—recommends sobriety checkpoints, stopping parents from purchasing alcohol for their underage kids in bars and eliminating alcohol licenses at gas stations. They have more proposals, too—like doubling the price of alcohol licenses, running a media campaign outlining the legal implications of purchasing alcohol for minors, teaching bartenders about gender differences in metabolizing alcohol and eliminating ""consumption-based'' drink specials (buy one get one free, for example). Unfortunately, in order to change Wisconsin's culture, the council takes issue with distributers and facilitators of alcohol—not the consumers.
Many of the recommendations look at statewide reform, but the city of Madison has its own agenda when it comes to curbing the influence of alcohol in the downtown area. Recently, the Alcohol Licensing Review Committee has clamped down on some local liquor stores, including University Avenue Liquor and several businesses owned by Hyungirl and Jongyean Lee, like Riley's Wines of the World. In UAL's case, the owners face a 30-day liquor license suspension and fines of up to $18,000 for selling alcohol in bulk to CampusDrank, an organization notorious for delivering alcohol to underage students. The Lees, who were both sentenced to prison time for tax evasion, are looking at a few possible suspensions with the additional prospect of further punishments requiring them to sell some of their liquor stores to new ownership.
The ALRC's swift hand of justice doesn't stop there, either. In the last few weeks they've prevented five Madison Walgreens store locations from acquiring liquor licenses. Even though large-scale corporations like Walgreens have been historically diligent when it comes to educating staff on proper protocol for alcohol sales, the ALRC has stuck to its liquor-limiting guns. That's not all—the Alcohol Licensing Density Ordinance puts up yet another roadblock to potential businesses looking to sell alcohol in the downtown area. Under ALDO, any incoming establishment in Madison's central business district is ineligible to apply to the Alcohol License Review Committee unless it is located at an address that has held a tavern license within the previous 365 days. Many potential restaurants and shops cannot afford to start in Madison because their business models rely on some amount of liquor revenue that is excluded by ALDO.
What are the goals of the ALRC and the State Council on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse? Are they simply aiming to change the way the state of Wisconsin and the UW-Madison campus, are perceived across the nation? If so, the downfalls of restricting potential sources of economic advancement through liquor revenues are not worth the national facelift. Or, are they really spending so much valuable time and effort just to keep 18 year olds from drinking? A few threatening commercials and license suspensions won't stop my little brother from getting drunk with his friends—that's just money down the drain.
If it were up to me, safety and crime prevention would be the only justifiable reasons for such strict liquor regulations. And there are many more practical methods to reduce the dangers of drinking than preventing businesses from starting up or slapping parents on the wrist for buying alcohol. Before you get your driver's permit, you have to spend hours of state-mandated class time learning about the dangers of getting behind the wheel. Instead of suspending businesses' liquor licenses, the state could increase fines or require a portion of liquor revenues to go toward educating minors in required classes on responsible drinking for when they come of age. Also, some form of alcohol-purchasing license, like a driver's license, could provide a simple mode of prevention. Involved in an alcohol-related crime? Suspend a person's alcohol-purchasing license.
If Wisconsin's governing bodies want to usher in a cultural shift away from alcohol, then a less punitive approach is necessary. Perhaps eliminating alcohol advertising that targets minors would be a good start. Wisconsin is one of 24 states that has no law prohibiting companies to run alcohol ad campaigns aimed at youngsters. In many states, the location, timing and wording of potential advertisements are strictly regulated. For instance, ads for companies whose primary source of business is alcohol are prohibited from near schools or in yearbooks. In some cases, commercials for certain companies aren't allowed to air thirty minutes before or after children's programming.
We've taken similar measures to combat past cultural dilemmas. Remember how people didn't like secondhand smoke and constantly reminded everyone of smoking's harmful side effects? Well, no more ads for cigarettes on radio or television. Not to mention the state wide smoking ban that's going into effect this July. I'm not endorsing such drastic measures in terms of alcohol, but raising taxes couldn't hurt. In fact, the state's alcohol tax has remained the same for the past 41 years, whereas cigarettes taxes have skyrocketed.
Making alcohol more inaccessible to Wisconsinites is not the right approach to creating a safer state. Cultural changes happen based on the wants and needs of the people, not the measures of restrictive bodies like the ALRC, or the misguided goals of Councils across the state. Although the government doesn't necessarily need to embrace Wisconsin's drinking culture, it's important to remember the economic circumstances they are operating under, and encourage education and growth, not eliminate potential business.
Dan Tollefson is a senior majoring in English. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com
Dan Tollefson is a senior majoring in English. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
