Minimum alcohol price to deter DUIs?
Some countries are looking at legislating a minimum alcohol price in the hopes that by making alcohol more expensive to buy it will cut down on underage drinking and DUI.
The opinion piece quoted below provides the details and the counterpoint.
Hiking the price of alcohol won’t deter the binge drinkers - Opinion - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk:
"It is important, however, to ask the basic question. Would this help to stop underage or excessive drinking? Not surprisingly, the answer to this question appears to be a resounding no. Arguably, underage or excessive drinkers will always be able to find a way or means of funding their habit. Even if prices are raised and age restrictions imposed (it has been proposed to encourage shops to sell alcohol only to those aged 21 and over), dedicated drinkers would most likely scrimp on other purchases in order to be able to continue drinking.
Canada already has minimum prices for alcoholic beverages based on the type of drink involved, but Scotland will become the first country in the world to introduce a standard system calculated purely by alcoholic strength when it is introduced later this year."
My thought is that this is an even worse idea than mandating ignition interlock devices in all vehicles. Any experienced DUI attorney knows that most DUIs are caused by dumb mistakes or by addiction.
The price of a DUI in most states is so high already, by the time you figure in fines and attorney's fees, increased insurance costs and decreased earning potential, that it is difficult to argue with a straight face that cost could be an effective deterrent to drunk driving.
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