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TAKE ACTION - Tell Congress Not to Cut Alcohol Taxes

Stop the permanent national alcohol excise tax cuts

Congress is being relentlessly lobbied to lower alcohol taxes by extending the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2019 (S. 362; H.R. 1175). It's a very bad idea. It will mostly benefit major alcohol producers - many of whom are foreign-owned - at the expense of the public and the government.

The federal alcohol excise tax has not been raised since 1991, while alcohol-related deaths have doubled over the last 10 years. In addition, numerous studies have shown that increases in alcohol prices and/or taxes – not lower taxes - are associated with reductions in alcohol consumption and related problems, like motor vehicle fatalities, violent crime and alcohol-related diseases.

TAKE ACTION NOW to tell key Congressional leaders and your members of Congress to prioritize public health and safety over alcohol industry profits by voting no on extending tax cuts. They will also be strengthening the federal budget by boosting revenue. The public needs a windfall, Big Alcohol will continue to do just fine.

Defend the Science Behind the Federal Drinking Guidelines

How do you measure your drinks per day?

Government researchers want to lower recommended drinking levels—and Big Alcohol is mad.
We need you to comment in support of these new alcohol consumption guidelines.

TAKE ACTION BY AUGUST 13, 2020

The USDA and Department of Health and Human Services just released its 2020 Dietary Guidelines, which lowers the recommended number of drinks of alcohol per day for men from two to one. Over the course of a year, this would be 61 fewer six-packs per person.

At a time when nearly 100,000 United States residents—a majority of whom are male—die from alcohol-related causes yearly, reductions like this promise to stem the tide and save lives.

The only thing standing in their way? Big Alcohol. The public comment period for these guidelines closes on August 13, 2020, and Alcohol Justice has already received word that the alcohol lobby is trying to get them overturned. We need to make sure to shout them down with voices calling for public health, public safety, and people over profits.

TAKE ACTION: 1) Click here to use our template -- copy and paste the text onto your own letterhead or draft your own --
it's important the government hears your voice

2) Follow this link then click on the COMMENT button at the upper left and past in your comments

The deadline for comments is August 13, 2020.

This is a simple change that is long-time coming. Let us work together to make it happen!

Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm During COVID-19

Public Health & Safety are Essential

Tell your Governor: COVID-19 alcohol deregulation should not become the new normal!

Public Health Not Public Drinking

Under the dubious guise of “regulatory relief,” long-standing, evidence-based alcohol regulations critical to public health and safety have been rolled back during the COVID-19 crisis.

By not acknowledging the existing level of alcohol-related harm, and ignoring the increases in harm that deregulation is causing, states are suffering a public policy failure that is disproportionately affecting people of color and the economically disadvantaged. It is also placing additional stress on public health delivery systems already struggling to keep up with COVID victims.

It is time to tell Governors of all states to carefully reexamine their state's relationship to alcohol during this pandemic, and make public health and safety "essential" by doing the following:

• Reinstate regulations that prevent alcohol takeout and haphazard delivery
• Address the disproportionate increase in alcohol harms to communities of color
• Increase alcohol taxes and allocate the additional funds to treatment and prevention
• Retire outdated/unused alcohol licenses
• Create evidence-based statewide standard alcohol policy regulations within the Covid-19 response

Nobody needs encouragement to consume more alcohol at this time. The country already suffers too much from over-consumption. In addition, alcohol weakens immune systems, making it harder to fight off Covid-19. Even individuals who may not have a substance use disorder but are drinking more during the pandemic are at risk. Drunk driving, violence, domestic abuse, financial problems, the risk for liver disease, breast cancer, depression, stroke and heart attack will all increase with excessive drinking.

Tell your Governor: Please make public health and safety essential, not alcohol industry profits.

TAKE ACTION - Text REGULATE to 313131

TAKE ACTION Against the 4 A.M. Bar Bill's Harm to the LGBTQ+ Community

LGBTQ advocates stand against SB 58, the 4 a.m. bar bill of 2019

Research shows that extending last call times is associated with increases in violence, injury, assault, intoxicated driving, and stress on emergency services.

Restricted bar closing hours have been endorsed by the World Health Organization, United States Surgeon General, and CDC among many other U.S. and international public health authorities. If these recommendations are ignored, LGBTQ+ Californians will see the worst of it.

Community leaders such as Sen. Wiener need to envision a growing and vibrant LGBTQ+ culture that does not hinge on increasing the amount of alcohol people drink.

The LGBTQ+ Caucus of California Alcohol Policy Alliance rejects SB 58.

We urge you to TAKE ACTION and tell CA Assembly Leaders and Governor Newsom not to serve up money to the alcohol industry over the bodies of LGBTQ+ Californians.

California needs more positive spaces for its LGBTQ+ residents—spaces that promote acceptance, solidarity, and health. Bars open until 4 a.m. in party zones of 10 different cities are not the answer. That sort of money-chasing leaves the LGBTQ+ community to bear a disproportionate share of the harm.