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Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm During COVID-19

text REGULATE to 313131 to tell your governor to fight alcohol deregulation under COVID-19
Public Health & Safety are Essential

Tell your Governor: COVID-19 alcohol deregulation should not become the new normal!

Public Health Not Public Drinking

Under the dubious guise of “regulatory relief,” long-standing, evidence-based alcohol regulations critical to public health and safety have been rolled back during the COVID-19 crisis.

By not acknowledging the existing level of alcohol-related harm, and ignoring the increases in harm that deregulation is causing, states are suffering a public policy failure that is disproportionately affecting people of color and the economically disadvantaged. It is also placing additional stress on public health delivery systems already struggling to keep up with COVID victims.

It is time to tell Governors of all states to carefully reexamine their state's relationship to alcohol during this pandemic, and make public health and safety "essential" by doing the following:

• Reinstate regulations that prevent alcohol takeout and haphazard delivery
• Address the disproportionate increase in alcohol harms to communities of color
• Increase alcohol taxes and allocate the additional funds to treatment and prevention
• Retire outdated/unused alcohol licenses
• Create evidence-based statewide standard alcohol policy regulations within the Covid-19 response

Nobody needs encouragement to consume more alcohol at this time. The country already suffers too much from over-consumption. In addition, alcohol weakens immune systems, making it harder to fight off Covid-19. Even individuals who may not have a substance use disorder but are drinking more during the pandemic are at risk. Drunk driving, violence, domestic abuse, financial problems, the risk for liver disease, breast cancer, depression, stroke and heart attack will all increase with excessive drinking.

Tell your Governor: Please make public health and safety essential, not alcohol industry profits.

TAKE ACTION - Text REGULATE to 313131