Support for alcohol policies in marginalized populations

AIM: Kingdon [(2014) Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Essex. United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited] argues that windows of opportunity to pass policies emerge when problems, solutions and policy support co-occur. This study aims to identify a set of alcohol policies with the potential to reduce alcohol-related disparities given high levels of support from marginalized groups, such as racial/ethnic minorities and lower-income groups.

METHODS: This study used data from five US National Alcohol Surveys, which were based on household probability samples of adults in 1995 (n = 4243), 2000 (n = 5736), 2005 (n = 1445), 2010 (n = 4164) and 2015 (n = 4041). We used multiple logistic regression to determine the odds of policy support by racial/ethnic group and income level, considering price, place and marketing policies as well as individual-level interventions.

RESULTS: Overall a majority of Americans supported banning alcohol sales in corner stores (59.4%), banning alcohol advertisements on television (55.5%), and establishing universal health coverage for alcohol treatment (80.0%). Support was particularly high among Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos and lower-income persons. Multivariate models showed that compared with White people, foreign-born Hispanics/Latinos had the most robust levels of support, including raising alcohol taxes (aOR = 2.40, 95% CI: 2.00, 2.88, P < 0.0001), banning alcohol sales in corner stores (aOR = 2.85, 95% CI: 2.22, 3.65, P < 0.0001) and reducing retail sales hours (aOR = 2.91, 95% CI: 2.38, 3.55, P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION: Of the policies examined, banning alcohol sales at corner stores is most likely to be in a "window of opportunity" for reducing alcohol-related disparities. By simultaneously reducing population-level consumption and harms from others' drinking, place-based policies have the potential to reduce harms experienced by marginalized groups.