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Richard Piatt ReportingUtah's attorney general says sweet, alcohol-infused malt beverages should be sold at liquor stores, not grocery stores. Today Mark Shurtleff urged the state's Alcohol Beverage Commission---the state's alcohol gatekeeper--to take the issue to the Legislature.
Shurtleff calls drinks like 'Mike's Hard Lemonade', Zima and Bartles and James 'alcopops' sweet, but harmful. And he thinks they'll be harder for teenagers to get if they're sold in the more controlled environment of the state's wine and liquor stores.
Right now you can buy them at any grocery store. They're usually right next to the 3-2 beer, which is the same alcohol content as the malt beverages. But Shurtleff says these are different.
He says they're hard-alcohol-infused drinks, targeted at getting young people into drinking, and that's led to teen date rape and auto accidents in Utah. He insists they're a different class than 3-2 beer. Industry experts disagree.
Mark Shurtleff, Utah Attorney General: "What I'm proposing is to call it what it is, people have a right to know what they're getting. Call it what it is."
Marc Sorini , Flavored Malt Beverage Coalition: "There has been decline in teenage drinking. We still need to do more, but I don't think you can scapegoat a small part of the market for a problem that needs to be addressed."
The Legislature would need to make that change. But Shurtleff does not plan on pushing the issue, hoping the Alcohol Beverage Commission will do it.
Will sales be affected by limiting access to the drinks? Absolutely. But Shurtleff says that'll be the price of telling the truth about these drinks.
