Posts Tagged ‘preventing intoxication’
Discussing Wisconsin Law for Over-Serving of Alcohol
August 13th, 2012 | 
Author: We found these links to discussion of Wisconsin and it’s enforcement of over-serving of alcohol laws.
We thought our bartenders, sellers, and servers might find the information useful.
http://healthymarathoncounty.org/2012/08/bartenders-who-overserve/
Wisconsin Bartender License Course
Posted in Alcohol Sales, DUI, Managing Alcohol Serving Environments, Wisconsin Alcohol News | 
Tags: preventing intoxication, Selling Alcohol, wisconsin state law | 
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Responsible Retailing Forum Schedules 2011 Meeting
The 9th annual Responsible Retailing Forum (RRF) will be held on April 12-13, 2011 in Park City, Utah. RRF brings together alcohol regulators, state attorneys general and public health stakeholders to work with retailers and their distributors and suppliers, and their training providers, to promote policies that prevent underage sales of alcohol and tobacco products. The 2011 RRF will be hosted by the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The conference hotel is The Canyons. Information on the conference agenda, The Canyons and electronic registration will be posted on the RRF website later this year.
Posted in Alcohol Sales |
Tags: alcohol laws, alcohol sales, preventing intoxication, Preventing Underage Drinking, responsible alcohol service, Retail Alcohol Sales, Selling Alcohol, study group, underage drinking |
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Phusion Projects defends Four Loko criticism
Statement Regarding Incident at Central Washington University
October 26, 2010
No one is more upset than we are when our products are abused or consumed illegally by underage drinkers – and it appears that both happened in this instance. This is unacceptable.
But so too is placing blame for the incident squarely on Four Loko when the police report, toxicology reports and witness testimony all show that other substances, including beer, hard liquors like vodka and rum, and possibly illicit substances, were consumed as well.
In fact, while our product is mentioned only twice in the 44-page police report, hard liquor, vodka, rum or other alcohol is mentioned at least 19 times; beer is mentioned at least 3 times; and illegal drugs or roofies are mentioned at least 14 times – including twice in connection with an individual attending the party with the intention of bringing drugs with him and once in connection with smoking marijuana.
Officers on the scene reported disposing of the alcohol they found in the house, yet none of these officers described doing this by singling out one product or type of product.
In addition, the ages of the students involved have been redacted from the report, meaning there is no way to determine if any of the partygoers were of-age. Read the police report here.
In addition, the ages of the students involved have been redacted from the report, meaning there is no way to determine if any of the partygoers were of-age. However, in a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna states that all of the students sickened were in fact underage – meaning these young men and women were illegally consuming alcohol. Read his letter here.
Again, the events in central Washington this month were inexcusable. And most would expect our company to disagree with recent decisions to ban our products from college campuses or otherwise restrict their use there.
We do not. We agree with the goals that underlie those sentiments. Making college campuses safe and healthy environments for learning is a goal we share with administrators – even those who have chosen to ban our products. However, we also know that curbing alcohol abuse on college campuses will not be accomplished by singling out a lone product or beverage category.
This is precisely why we go to great lengths to ensure our products are not sold to underage consumers and are not abused. As a company, we do all we can to ensure that our products are consumed safely and responsibly. Read more here.
Posted in Washington Alcohol News |
Tags: alcohol consumption, binge drinking, Four Loko, preventing intoxication, Preventing Underage Drinking, underage drinking, Washington |
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‘Super drunk’ drivers face tougher punishment with new Michigan law
Source: mlive.com
Published: Sunday, October 17, 2010, 6:59 AM
Starting on Oct. 31, there will be two kinds of drunken drivers in Michigan: standard and “super.”
Standard are those with blood alcohol content of 0.08 to 0.16 percent. The super drunk, a new category under state law, are first-time offenders who test at 0.17 or above.
The designation confers no special powers, just super-high penalties and super-stiff fees.
Fines and other costs could top $8,000, some defense attorneys predict. Alcohol treatment is mandatory, possible jail time is doubled, and driving is forbidden for 45 days.
The penalties include another first for Michigan: a requirement to install an in-car breathalyzer.
To resume driving after 45 days, first-time super-drunk offenders must buy an ignition interlock, which works by testing a driver’s breath and allows the car to run only if the driver is sober.
The change is part of an effort to toughen drunken driving penalties, by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Michigan joined more than 40 states when the Legislature passed the standards with virtually no opposition at the end of 2008.
The technical term is “high blood alcohol content enhanced penalty law.” ”We don’t really like calling it the super drunk law,” said Anne Readett, spokeswoman for the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning.
Critics of the law, including defense lawyers, question its effectiveness.
Advocates call the measure positive but not enough – “a disappointing step in the right direction,” said Michigan MADD’s executive director, Homer Smith.
For example, state lawmakers set the blood-alcohol standard at 0.17 percent, bucking a trend toward tougher 0.15 thresholds preferred by MADD. And at least a dozen states require interlock devices for all convicted drunken drivers.
“The Legislature had an opportunity to do something that would significantly deter drunk driving,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, they chose to do less than the optimum.”
Michigan still considers 0.08 percent to be legally drunk, and the new law does not affect repeat offenders or people who face a felony for causing death, injury or damage.
About one-third of Michigan drivers whom police suspect of driving drunk test at the enhanced penalty levels.
Interlocks have gained in effectiveness and acceptance since 2007, when federal traffic safety officials began a campaign urging judges to require the devices.
A device costs the driver about $100 a month to maintain. Other costs to violators come from state driver responsibility fees and attorney fees.
First-time offenders who meet the super-drunk standard are looking at $8,000 to $10,000, according to defense attorney Gerald Lykins.
He is unconvinced the law will be effective.
“I’m not sure that penalizing someone who blows a 0.17 rather than 0.14 will prevent people from drunk driving,” he said. “The driver responsibility fee was supposed to reduce bad driving, but that hasn’t worked.”
MADD counters that enhanced penalties are working in other states. New Mexico, for instance, has had a 20 percent reduction in alcohol-related crashes since its law was passed in 2005.
Kalamazoo County Assistant Prosecutor Aubrey Sharp said the new penalties treat offenses in proportion to one another.
“You have a person with a 0.09 blood alcohol level who is punished the same as someone with a 0.32,” Sharp said.
Others take a wait-and-see approach. Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth said penalties already are harsh.
“It’s still drunk driving and I don’t see how it’s really going to change,” he said.
Grand Rapids Assistant City Attorney Mike Tomich calls the law “a useful tool for public safety.” But he said he is not certain the provisions will change behavior overall.
Grand Rapids District Court Judge Jeanine LaVille, who oversees sobriety court, said the added mandatory penalties take more discretion from judges, who have crafted sentences based on individual needs and offenses.
“We’re already doing what the Legislature suggests,” LaVille said.
Attorney Lykins said if the state wants to prevent drunken driving, lawmakers could consider taking the law to its logical conclusion.
“We could demand that car manufactures have interlock devices as standard equipment,” Lykins said, “just like seatbelts.”
Posted in Alcohol Consumption, Michigan Alcohol News |
Tags: alcohol consumption, Alcohol Vendor Protection, drunk driving, laws, overconsumpsion, preventing intoxication, Social Host Liability, super drunk |
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Alaska: Panels mull restrictions on cheap liquor
Source: The Associated Press
October 15th, 2010 07:23 AM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The city of Anchorage would crack down on some stores selling cheap liquor often purchased by street inebriates under rules to be studied by four community councils.
The rules are based on a law approved by the Anchorage Assembly for the Downtown Community Council district.
The law passed this week prevents the sale of wine costing less than $10 a bottle, six-packs of beer costing less than $6 and bottles of liquor priced less than $10 or smaller than 750 milliliters.
The law also mandates that individual containers have stickers identifying what store they came from and it prohibits stores from posting prices or beer signs on windows.
Community councils for Mountain View, Northeast, Fairview and Government Hill now are looking toward restrictions in their districts.
The new ordinance, pushed by Anchorage Assembly Vice Chair Patrick Flynn, affects four downtown liquor stores, which already had the restrictions as part of their individual permits to sell alcohol. Future liquor stores in the area also will have to follow the pricing restrictions.
Litter around town makes it clear that the cheaper alcohol is what’s being abused on the streets, Flynn said.
“Whoever you’re selling it to, it’s finding its way into the hands of somebody that’s not using it responsibly,” he said.
In Government Hill, there has been a drastic increase in public drunkenness in the last two years, according to council president Bob French. The neighborhood’s lone liquor store sells cheaper alcohol than is available anywhere else in the nearby vicinity and draws customers from downtown, he said.
“If you’re a public inebriate, and you have no income, (a) dollar a bottle is worth making a mile trek across a bridge,” French said.
Sharon Chamard, Fairview’s community council president, said the council would look closer at price restrictions, but she added that it is yet to be determined how the restrictions would affect responsible drinkers.
“I’d really want to know if those products are primarily used by the chronic inebriates,” she said. “I think that some of these restrictions might be discriminating against low-income folks.”
Posted in Alaska Alcohol News, Alcohol Sales |
Tags: alcohol sales, hard liquor, preventing intoxication |
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