Study: States Rarely Enforce Laws on Sales
to Drunk Patrons
Most states have laws that prohibit bars and liquor stores from
selling alcohol to individuals who are obviously drunk, but the
laws are rarely enforced by police and are generally ignored by
bar and liquor-store owners, Health Day News reported May 13.
For a new study, actors portraying intoxicated patrons were sent
into 372 bars and liquor stores in 11 communities to try to buy
alcohol. According to the research, 79 percent of the establishments
sold alcohol to the actors.
Lead researcher Dr. Traci Toomey, an associate professor of epidemiology
from the University of Minnesota, said the study suggested that
many servers and clerks were ignorant of the law. "That should
be a key part of server-training programs," she said.
Others who were aware of the law, said Toomey, did not have the
skills to handle the customer. "They don't want to have a hostile
drunk person to deal with," she said.
Toomey and her research team recommended aggressive training programs
for servers and management. "This is a risky type of alcohol
service," Toomey said. "We need to figure out ways to
pay more attention to it, and either work with establishments or
find ways to put pressure on these establishments to make sure that
they comply with the law."
The study's findings are published in the May 2004 issue of Alcoholism:
Clinical and Experimental Research.
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