Manufacturer-to-consumer alcohol shipping is a bad bet
January always stirs feelings of optimism as people make new resolutions to break old habits. People start going to the gym and eating more sensibly. They try to quit cigarettes and cut back on drinking. Typically, there’s a shift away from the indulgence of the holidays toward moderation and balance.
Public health professionals understand the importance of finding that balance, especially when it comes to alcohol. Abstinence from the things that we enjoy isn’t always realistic nor necessary. Health professionals and policymakers are trying to find a balance, too — trying to craft policies that enable consumer choice and drive economic prosperity, while also putting appropriate guardrails in place.
That said, some of the policy ideas I’m hearing lately have me scratching my head. Case in point: the misguided idea of allowing alcohol to be shipped directly from manufacturers to the home.
I understand that in our modern society, everyone expects everything to be delivered to them with a click on their phone. But direct-to-consumer alcohol shipping from manufacturers is a dangerous idea that poses a wide threat to public health and breaks down protections to stop underage drinking. Current guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are that policymakers should be reducing access to alcohol, not increasing it. It makes no sense to create an unregulated, unsupervised channel for more convenient liquor.
Public health trends make clear that now is not the time to expand access to alcohol in New York. The state Department of Health recently noted that 1 in 6 New Yorkers report excessive alcohol use. According to research from New York’s own Hofstra University published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, rates of alcohol-related illness and death are increasing significantly in women. The New York state Office of Addiction Services and Support says alcohol-related deaths among women have gone up by 85% in the past decade, calling alcohol use “a growing women’s health issue.”
Direct shipping makes it easier for teenagers to purchase
alcohol without age verification. A survey of 2,200 American adults by a national polling firm found that nearly 60% of adults identified underage access as their top concern about direct shipping. This concern was borne out by an investigation by the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, which found that over 40% of direct-sale purchases did not obtain an adult signature, and none of the shipments — zero — requested age verification upon delivery.
More underage drinking is the last thing we need in New York, especially when you think of the harmful decisions that teenagers make when their judgment is impaired.
Local delivery from responsible retailers already exists. There is no need for manufacturers to be able to ship directly to our homes. Weaker alcohol laws will create more harm than good for New York. Policymakers should take a cue from medical professionals and vow to ”do no harm.” Even better, like any adult drinker at a tavern or cocktail party, they should know “when to say when.”
Robert Kent served as general counsel at the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports from 2007 to 2020 and was general counsel at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for the first two years of the Biden-harris administration.