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The liquor industry has awakened to the problems that excessive use of its products causes. Some of the companies have been promoting moderation through advertising and posters. Seagrams, for example, last year spent $250,000 for hard-hitting magazine ads against excessive drinking. Licensed Beverage Industries, Inc., the public representative of the distillers, spends $ 150,000 a year on research projects and allots $250,000 each year for a national advertising campaign, promoting "responsible" drinking. ("Know when to say when" is the theme of one ad. "If you can't stop drinking, don't start driving" is the message of another.) Last week liquor industry leaders and state beverage-control officials met in Miami with experts from the Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies to consider other measures that could or should be taken. Jack Hood, board chairman of the National Alcoholic Beverage Control Association, told conferees of plans to use "the unmatched power of education to convince every American, young and old, that responsible drinking is the only kind that anyone should tolerate."
Still, for an industry that has revenues of $18.3 billion a year (after federal, state and local taxes), such expenditures are probably only a fraction of what they should be. Contrasted with this are all the ads pitched toward the young, implying that not even a weekend in the country can be truly enjoyable without drinking. The industry could no doubt change its pitch—use older models and show people drinking only at parties—without cutting sales or profits.
Public Awareness. What else can be done? For a starter, the Nixon Administration should give Chafetz's agency the entire $137,947,000 it has requested for the coming fiscal year, instead of attempting to cut it to $99,800,000. The money would be well spent on research, training, community health services and public education. Second, the 30-odd states that have not yet removed drunkenness from the criminal statutes should do so, adding treatment centers and halfway houses on the Minnesota model. Third, more companies should start alcoholic rehabilitation programs, looking upon money spent combatting alcoholism as almost an efficiency measure, which it certainly is.
How is the battle against alcoholism going? Again, there is good news and bad news—with an emphasis on the latter. Senator Hughes, who, more than anyone else, was responsible for the turnabout in the Government's attitude, is as good a judge as any. He is happy that tax dollars are joining the fight against alcoholism, and that the public is finally becoming aware that alcoholism is a treatable condition from which, with dedicated help, two-thirds or more of its victims can recover. But he sees even that as only limited comfort. "I'm not optimistic that we're gaining on the problem," he reckons. "Instead, it's gaining on us."
* In virtually all states, that influence is legally set at a blood concentration of .1% or more alcohol. A 150-lb. man can reach this level if he takes three one-jigger (11½ oz. per jigger) drinks within an hour.