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Youths Helped Drive Calif. Alcopops Decision

October 12, 2007

The fight to determine whether so-called alcopops should be classified as beer or liquor in California sometimes smacked of regulatory arcana, but the issue nonetheless spiked the passions of youth leaders in the state.

Alcohol-policy groups and leaders involved in the successful campaign to get the California Board of Equalization (BOE) to change the classification of products like Smirnoff Ice and Mike's Hard Lemonade from beer to liquor -- thus increasing both regulatory restrictions and taxation -- said that youth leaders were critical to the success of the Alcopops and Youth Coalition in forcing regulatory changes. The coalition is comprised of youths, law-enforcement officers, public-health researchers, treatment providers, and others. Most of the youth leaders were high-school students ages 16 to 18.

They held initial meetings with BOE Board members and staff, drafted the petition that led to the subsequent hearings and vote, lobbied board members, provided background information, conducted press interviews, and organized a campaign to collect postcards from young people and adults from across the state, with several thousand postcards delivered to the Board the day before the vote, said Jim Mosher, director of the Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE). They moved the board from not even wanting to consider reclassification to actually passing it.

Along with a pair of lawsuits filed on a pro-bono basis by a San Francisco law firm, the Public Law Group, I believe having the youth voice and leadership was critical to the success of the campaign, said Mosher.

The truly incredible story is how youth made this happen, not the adults, agreed Jim Kooler, administrator of the California Friday Night Live Partnership.

Youths from Friday Night Live -- a statewide youthdevelopment organization with chapters throughout the state -- the California Youth Council, and the Girl Scouts Councils of California all were actively involved in the alcopops campaign. A grant-funded project to produce a video on alcopops sparked initial interest in the issue among youth leaders, said Kooler, and a meeting with the staff of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- which resulted in a piece of pro-industry alcopops legislation being vetoed -- emboldened them to take their case to the BOE.

What grabbed their attention was the feeling that they were being marketed to in this aggressive -- and what appeared to be illegal -- way, PIRE's Mosher said.

During the BOE hearings, former board vice chairman Claude Parrish accused the youth leaders of being puppets for the advocacy groups leading the campaign. That did us a big favor, said Kooler. We let the young people respond, and let their consistency and presence demonstrate their commitment.

Not everyone was convinced, but the BOE ultimately voted 3-2 in favor of reclassifying alcopops. BOE board member Bill Leonard, one of the two members to vote against the rule change, credited the youth leaders for their passionate advocacy, saying it does, and clearly did, sway opinions and votes. However, Leonard said that he was not personally persuaded by the youth appeals in the alcopop debate, in part due to his impression that those testifying were the cream of the crop.

None of them had any personal experience with illegal drinking, Leonard said. They could not tell stories explaining how they or any of their friends had been tricked into consuming alcohol because of these sweet drinks. They did not have experience with an older sibling or uncle purchasing alcohol for them. Thus, their stories about the evils of alcopops were not convincing to me.

I would never discourage young people from becoming politically active and seeking policy changes they believe are necessary, added Leonard. I would encourage them to do more homework on the subject, to find factual situations where abuses occurred, and be able to articulate responses to criticisms of their positions.