CAPA LGBTQ+ Caucus Opposes Wiener's 4 a.m. Bar Bill
Channel: Alcohol Justice - The Industry Watchdog
Date: 2019-06-10

California needs more positive spaces for its LGBTQ residents—spaces that promote acceptance, solidarity, and health. Yet in a move that would make the Trump administration proud, one of California’s most prominent gay legislators is masking a campaign to deregulate a lethal industry under the guise of helping the LGBTQ community.

For almost three years now, State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has been working to extend bar closing times from the 2 a.m. standard out to 4 a.m. His latest effort is SB 58. As with the previous two failed iterations of the bill, SB 58 openly recognizes that the economic windfall will be reaped by the large hotels, convention halls, and mega-promoters that endorse the bill. As with so many other public health catastrophes, that sort of money-chasing leaves the LGBTQ community to bear a disproportionate share of the harm.

There is plenty of harm to go around. Alcohol use kills over 10,600 Californians yearly, or one alcohol-related death per hour. While 159,000 Californians receive treatment for alcohol abuse, that represents less than 15% of the number in need of it. Alcohol use costs the state $35 billion annually, of which $25.8 billion stems directly from binge drinking. And these numbers are rising fast; CDC scientists report that rates of alcohol abuse increased nearly 50% in a decade. Far from generating money for the state, early-morning bar times will worsen all of these figures.

To read more go to: https://alcoholjustice.org/take-actio...