Patterns of Select Alcohol Control Policies Across U.S. States

Background: State-level alcohol control policies may influence state patterns of drinking behavior. Methods: We developed a score (range 0-1.0) that reflected the presence or absence of policies and provisions for five policies in 50 US states for 1999-2011 using the Alcohol Policy Information Systems (APIS) and other data sources. The weights for each provision were assigned based on the relative importance for policy implementation, empirical evidence and theory as determined by panel of alcohol policy experts. Policies were: taxes on alcohol (TAX), restrictions on hours of sale (HOS), graduated driver licensing laws (GDL), keg registration policies (KEG), and house party laws (HPL). Results: In 2011, states varied in their mean rating score for HOS (mean=0.53; standard deviation=0.31), HPL (mean=0.32; s.d.=0.29), KEG (mean 0.18; s.d.=0.20) and GDL (mean=0.42; s.d.=0.16). TAX was examined using a continuous variable of dollars/drink based on excise, ad valorem and sales taxes for beer (and for beer, wine and spirits in states without government monopoly). The mean state tax per drink on beer was $0.104 (range $0.008-0.23). Policy ratings were not strongly correlated with one another at the state level. Three of five policies became more restrictive between 1999 and 2011, with significant change in policy scores for HPL (â=0.012; p<0.001), KEG (â=0.009; p<0.001), and GDL (â=0.016; p<0.001). Conclusions: The policy ratings can be used in future work to assess whether the policy environment accounts for state-level variation in alcohol consumption and alcohol-impaired driving behavior among youth and adults.