Heavy drinking spikes as more states ease alcohol rules
As heavy drinking increased in some households during the pandemic, dozens of state legislatures passed bills relaxing state alcohol laws, creating changes so vast that the movement is being compared to the waning days of Prohibition.
The new rules include cocktails-to-go laws, which allow consumers to pick up mixed cocktails, beer or wine at their local pub or restaurant, and direct-toconsumer laws that allow grocery stores or liquor stores — and sometimes distillers, brewers or winemakers — to deliver alcoholic beverages directly to people’s homes.
Ultimately, 31 states included cocktails-to-go as a temporary relief measure at the beginning of the pandemic. In 15 states, the effort was extended by two to five years. Another 16 states made cocktails-to-go a permanent law, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade association.
At least nine states also passed laws or changed regulations that made it easier for customers to have alcohol delivered directly to their homes, according to an analysis done by R StreetInstitute, a Washington think tank that advocates for free markets.
These efforts are expected to continue when state legislatures reconvene in a few weeks across the country, with at least a half dozen bill proposals underway — all modeled off laws that were enacted in 2020 and again this year.
“It would have taken 10 years for this to happen in a non-pandemic era,” said Mike Whatley, vice president of state affairs and grass-roots advocacy at the National Restaurant Association. “What’s happened in the last 20 or so months is likely the most significant or major change to alcohol laws since the end of Prohibition.”
But critics say expansion has come at the same time alcohol sales soared and drinking spiked. Studies have found higher rates of binge drinking and alcoholism, and some state coroners have reported a sharp increase in alcohol-related deaths during the pandemic.
Alcohol prevention and recovery groups said they have difficulty countering the powerful alcohol lobby and the narrative — which has appealed to many lawmakers — that the laws help struggling small-business owners.
“We are up against an unprecedented rollback of alcohol regulations that has been in place for decades that is intended to protect health and safety,” said Alicia Sparks, vice chair of the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance, a nonprofit organization whose members fought the bills. “We are definitely being out-lobbied and outspent by the alcohol industry. And despite the narrative around this, the money is ending up in the hands of these multinational corporations, not small businesses.”
The laws were passed in response to requests that poured in from the alcohol industry, restaurant owners, grocery retailers and liquor stores after governors issued closure orders for most businesses and stay-at-home orders for many Americans.
Restaurateurs wanted to sell alcoholic beverages with curbside pickup meals. Grocery stores, liquor stores, distillers and breweries wanted to offer home delivery.
Their singular message was that it was a necessary lifeline for businesses struggling to survive the pandemic.
“It was really rooted in providing the small-business owner an opportunity to keep the lights on,” said David Wojnar, senior vice president and head of lobbying for the Distilled Spirits Council, which mobilized more than 40 lobbyists to press the issue around the country.
It’s unclear how much money the council or other alcohol groups spent nationally on statehouse lobbying efforts since reporting requirements vary state-tostate.
The cocktails-to-go measures appear to have provided modest help to restaurants. Before the pandemic, full-service restaurants said between 20 to 25 percent of sales came from purchases of alcoholic beverages, according to the National Restaurant Association.
Those alcohol proceeds are about 10 percent of takeout meals for restaurants operating under the new ordinances and laws, the association said.
No national analysis appears to have been done to evaluate profits gained through direct-to-consumer delivery laws, but smallbatch distillers see it as a crucial part of their business model and a leveling of the playing field since many craft beer producers and most wineries have shipped their products directly to consumers for years.
“The spirits industry is just looking for parity with the beer and wine industry,” said Ryan Christiansen, president and head distiller at Caledonia Spirits in Vermont. “What else in your life can you not order and have delivered to your doorstep? … And business is still being impacted by the pandemic.”
A shift in consumer habits — with more Americans growing increasingly accustomed to having all manner of products delivered to their front doorstep — has also fueled the changes.