Transitioning to private liquor sales in WA

The Liquor Control Board's (LCB) website now contains information about the work being done in response to the passage of Initiative 1183.  The LCB will cease state liquor store and liquor distribution operations by June 1, 2012. The Seattle Distribution Center - which supplies state and contract liquor stores with liquor - and its assets will be sold.  The private sector will be allowed to sell and distribute liquor with the proper liquor licenses.

Several laws related to the three-tier system will also change, including:

• Uniform pricing is repealed for liquor and wine.
• Ban on quantity discounts is repealed for liquor and wine.

Repealing these policies will enable retailers to sell liquor and wine at lower prices.  These are of particular concern to underage drinking prevention advocates because lower alcohol prices are associated with higher alcohol consumption among teenagers.

Alcohol tax and price policies decrease alcohol-related morbidity and mortality outcomes

After reviewing fifty articles, spanning four decades, that provided data on the impact alcohol tax and price levels have on alcohol-related morbidity and mortality, researchers concluded that taxes on alcohol can prevent many alcohol-related problems.

According to CADCA's Research Into Action for January-February 2011: . . . alcohol taxes and prices have a significant and negative relationship to every outcome group evaluated including: alcohol-related violence, traffic crash fatalities and drunk driving, rates of STDs and risky sexual behavior, other drug use, and crime. Suicide was the only category that did not demonstrate a similar negative relationship in that increases in alcohol taxes and prices were not related to decreases in suicides.