To-Go Alcoholic Drinks Should Be Permanent Says 40% Of NJ

Princeton NJ

25 March, 2022

4:25 PM

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NEW JERSEY — During the pandemic, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that allowed businesses to temporarily sell to-go alcoholic drinks. Prior to the pandemic, to-go alcoholic drinks were permitted in only a handful of states, including in New Orleans. Other exceptions include the city of Butte, Montana, where you are free to drink in the streets as long as it's not between the hours of 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. Since the temporary legalization of to-go alcohol during the pandemic, a few states have made these regulations permanent, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, and Ohio. So, what should New Jersey do? According to a recent survey by American Addiction Centers, 40 percent of New Jerseyans support the idea of permanently legalizing alcohol drinks to-go. A temporary law enacted during the pandemic currently allows to-go alcoholic drinks. This compares to a national average of 43 percent. Broken down by age, the highest percentage of those who support the law are 25 to 34-year-olds, reveals the study. This could also have to do with the prevalence of heavy drinking culture among millennials who, devoid of social interaction during the lockdown, relied on delivery companies to regularly replenish their liquor stores, the study said. The second-highest proportion of supporters of to-go alcohol was the age group of 35 – 44-year-olds. The age groups of 55-64 and 65+ were most against relaxing alcohol laws. The Garden State is home to some of the toughest liquor laws. Those who argue in favor of making to-go alcohol laws permanent say that the financial position of restaurants and bars post-pandemic is bleak, where profit margins are super thin. Alcohol generates around 30 percent of their entire revenue and helps them stay afloat. With lower costs and an inventory that has a long shelf-life, alcohol leads to larger profits. Those against loosening current laws think that they will lead to a significant increase in public health problems. Over 1 in 3 (38 percent) thought this to be the case. In the United States, alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of death, resulting in the death of around 95,000 people annually according to the NIAAA. And finally, a majority, 85 percent of respondents thought that the biggest disadvantage to the permanent legalization of to-go drinks would be an increase in drunk driving incidents. According to the NHTSA, each day, about 28 people in the US die in drunk-driving accidents, which equates to one person every 52 minutes. A further 8 percent of people said the biggest disadvantage of this could be that it encourages public drunken behavior, and another 7 percent felt it would increase illegal underage alcohol sales.