Have we made progress reducing the likelihood of sales to obviously intoxicated patrons?

Background. Most states in the U.S. prohibit alcohol sales to underage and obviously intoxicated patrons. Researchers first began assessing likelihood of alcohol sales to underage people in the early 1990’s and found that sales rates were 75-100%. A decade later, the likelihood of sales to youth dropped to 26-39%. This decrease is most likely attributed to the increased intervention and enforcement that occurred during this time. During the late 1990’s researchers also began assessing the likelihood of sales to obviously intoxicated patrons and found estimated sales rates up to 79%. However, there has been less active intervention and enforcement of sales to intoxicated individuals compared to underage sales over the past few decades. We assessed the likelihood of sales to individuals who appear obviously intoxicated to determine if any progress has been made on this issue. Methods. We conducted pseudo-intoxicated purchase attempts (actors feigned intoxication and attempted to purchase alcohol) at 326 bars and restaurants during 2012 and 2013 as part of baseline data collection for a large prevention trial. Observations of establishment and server characteristics (e.g., server age) were recorded at the time of each purchase attempt. Results. Pseudo-intoxicated individuals were able to purchase alcohol at 82% of the establishments. Few establishment or server characteristics were associated with likelihood of an alcohol sale. Conclusion. In stark contrast to the success with reducing alcohol sales to underage, a very high rate of illegal sales to obviously intoxicated patrons continues to occur. Implications of study findings will be discussed.