Friday, May 05, 2006

Alcohol industry profits from underage drinking


I know. You're shocked. Me too.

Sarcasm aside, in news (if that's the right word) not entirely unrelated to what we were discussing here, a new report from some nerds at Columbia University asserts that the alcohol industry rakes in $23 billion a year from underage drinking.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Underage drinking is worth nearly $23 billion a year to the alcohol industry, or 17.5 percent of all money spent on spirits in the US annually, researchers from New York’s Columbia University report.

And abusive drinking by both underage people and adults may account for nearly half of all money spent on alcohol each year.

“What we see here is that there is a large conflict of interest for the alcohol industry between profitability and public health,” Susan E. Foster of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia told Reuters Health.


Thanks to the indispensable Double Viking for the link.

Posted by jwb at 10:23 AM   

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