New alcohol advertising regulations

From the Washington State Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking:

Over 500 teens and adults sent comments to the Liquor Control Board (LCB) encouraging increased regulation of alcohol advertising. This was unprecedented!

The journey is almost complete. The LCB filed the proposed rules with the coder reviser on January 13. They include:

-- Limit alcohol advertising signs on stores to 4 with no more than 1600 square inches per sign.

-- Limit alcohol advertising signs at festival beer gardens to the same rules and eliminate inflatables or give-aways that promote alcohol.

-- Signs should not appeal to, or target, children/teens.

-- Signs should be more than 500 feet to the property line of schools, churches, playgrounds.

The last step before adoption is a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 24, 2010 from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the LCB in Olympia. The LCB will adopt the rules on March 3, 2010 and they will become effective April 3.

While alcohol advertising may not be the #1 factor contributing to underage drinking, it is a factor that influences youth in all communities. This is a wonderful success for substance abuse prevention and it is largely thanks to everyone who made comments to the LCB over the past year about alcohol advertising.

Action Item: contact Liquor Control Board about alcohol advertising regulations

On March 11, I blogged about the chance for community members to provide the Liquor Control Board (LCB) with comments regarding the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) dealing with alcohol advertising. Thanks to all of you who provided the LCB with input -- they received over 800 comments from prevention-minded citizens and only a handful from the alcohol industry.

With those comments in mind, the LCB drafted changes to the current WAC and created a summary of those changes.

Though the alcohol industry was rather quiet during the first round of comments, it is expected that they won't be so quiet this time around. Your comments in support of the proposed changes are needed! Here is an outline of the WAC review process and prevention-related responses to the proposed WAC changes. A drafted message to the LCB is posted to the coalition's website (click on "comments").

UPDATE: Read WASAVP's Action Alert!

Forward your comments to the LCB by June 15 to the Rules Coordinator at rules@liq.wa.gov.

How to regulate alcohol advertising

The Marin Institute recently released a guide for regulating alcohol advertising. The guide is meant to help policymakers draft effective state and local laws to minimize youth exposure to alcohol advertising.

It includes:
-- a section about regulating commercial speech and the first amendment;
-- a checklist for drafting laws;
-- examples of restrictions;
-- model language for current laws;
-- current laws regarding alcohol advertising;