Alcopops!!
http://www.countywomanmagazines.com/articles/237/1/Alcopops/Page1.html
Naomi L. Hubbard
Camden County Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, Inc. (CCCADA) is a private, nonprofit organization in partnership with other local and county individuals and organizations. CCCADA's Mission is to promote awareness of alcohol, drugs and tobacco and to encourage early intervention and knowledge of the availability of treatment throughout Camden County. CCCADA seeks to:
Prevent: the disease of alcoholism, drug abuse and related problems
Educate: the public that alcoholism, drug abuse and related problems are treatable and preventable
Encourage: early identification, intervention, treatment and continuum of care for alcoholism, drug abuse and related problems
By Naomi L. Hubbard
Published on December 14, 2009
Underage drinking in New Jersey is on an epidemic scale. Our youth continue to use alcohol at rates that should alarm all concerned citizens in the state.
Underage drinking in New Jersey is on an epidemic scale. Our youth continue to use alcohol at rates that should alarm all concerned citizens in the state. It continues to be the most frequently used drug by New Jersey middle school and high school students. Approximately 395,000 underage youth in New Jersey drink each year. In 2005, underage drinkers consumed 17.3% of all alcohol sold in New Jersey, totaling $852 million in sales. These sales provided profits of $413 million to the alcohol industry!
A portion of those profits was generated by a product called “alcopops”. Each year, approximately 154,050 of our youth in New Jersey drink alcopops. Alcopops are flavored malt beverages, also known as malternatives, are sweetened alcoholic beverages that are bubbly and fruit-flavored, resembling soda, lemonade, punch or tea. They are made to taste like cola, soda pop, punch, or lemonade and have between 4-8% alcohol by volume. They have no traditional beer or malt beverage characteristics. The sweetness and flavoring hide the taste of alcohol and thus serve as a transition between soda pop and alcohol for young drinkers. Some examples of such are Smirnoff Ice, Skye Blue, Jack Daniel’s Original Hard Cola, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and others.
Although these products derive much of their alcohol from distilled spirits and are often branded with spirit names, the alcohol industry calls them “flavored malt beverages” because it wants to take advantage of more favorable tax rates and guidelines for beer, but doesn’t want them to taste like, look like, or be called beer. In New Jersey, beer tax rates are significantly lower than the rate for liquor: .12 cents per gallon for beer compared to $4.40 per gallon for distilled spirits.
When alcohol costs more, YOUTH DRINK LESS. Properly classifying alcopops as a distilled spirit rather than beer can reduce underage consumption of all alcohol by 23% which translates into saving young lives, preventing incidents of harm, including youth violence, traffic crashes, high risk sex, injury, poisoning, psychosis and suicide attempts.
If you would like more information on “Alcopops”, please feel free to call our office at 856-427-6553.
A portion of those profits was generated by a product called “alcopops”. Each year, approximately 154,050 of our youth in New Jersey drink alcopops. Alcopops are flavored malt beverages, also known as malternatives, are sweetened alcoholic beverages that are bubbly and fruit-flavored, resembling soda, lemonade, punch or tea. They are made to taste like cola, soda pop, punch, or lemonade and have between 4-8% alcohol by volume. They have no traditional beer or malt beverage characteristics. The sweetness and flavoring hide the taste of alcohol and thus serve as a transition between soda pop and alcohol for young drinkers. Some examples of such are Smirnoff Ice, Skye Blue, Jack Daniel’s Original Hard Cola, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and others.
Although these products derive much of their alcohol from distilled spirits and are often branded with spirit names, the alcohol industry calls them “flavored malt beverages” because it wants to take advantage of more favorable tax rates and guidelines for beer, but doesn’t want them to taste like, look like, or be called beer. In New Jersey, beer tax rates are significantly lower than the rate for liquor: .12 cents per gallon for beer compared to $4.40 per gallon for distilled spirits.
When alcohol costs more, YOUTH DRINK LESS. Properly classifying alcopops as a distilled spirit rather than beer can reduce underage consumption of all alcohol by 23% which translates into saving young lives, preventing incidents of harm, including youth violence, traffic crashes, high risk sex, injury, poisoning, psychosis and suicide attempts.
If you would like more information on “Alcopops”, please feel free to call our office at 856-427-6553.