Can We Agree That Alcohol and Lies Don’t Pair Well?

My argument is a simple one: In advancing or promoting or opposing any alcohol-related policy, you should tell the truth. The corollary to this position is equally simple: Don’t lie.

I focus on this position today in response to a common lie that has been resurrected in opposing the proposal to allow the U.S. Postal Service to ship alcohol and augment their revenue in doing so. Below is the #1 argument put forward by a former alcohol regulator from Oregon and one of the most prominent proponents of vigorous regulation of alcohol why the U.S. Postal Service should not be allowed to ship alcohol:

“1. Public health and safety: As most people know, alcohol can cause great harm and is regulated to reduce that harm. It’s a balancing act because after Prohibition, our nation decided to allow businesses to sell alcohol but to use regulation to curb harmful practices. It doesn’t work perfectly, but we have achieved a reasonable level of balance and moderation. For example, the US ranks 45th in terms of total alcohol consumed per person according to the World Health Organization, well below a lot of developed countries. Nevertheless, we continue to be concerned about issues of underage drinking, excessive drinking and drunk driving. These issues are in the news today as these problems seem to have gotten worse during the Pandemic. Expanding the shipping of alcohol to homes could exacerbate these problems.”

Is this a lie? It is a lie. It’s a lie to suggest that public health is in any way related to the issue of shipping alcohol via common carriers. Never once in the history of the world has the shipment of alcohol directly to consumers caused any health or safety issues. Not once. In fact, by every measure, the shipment of alcohol is the safest way to assure alcohol does not get into the hands of minors and does not result in health issues.

Yet here is Pamela Erikson, publisher of the Healthy Alcohol Marketplace, submitting that “Public Health and Safety” is the #1 reason the Postal Service ought not to be allowed to ship alcohol. Erikson and her newsletter find their primary support from American alcohol wholesalers. This is not beside the point.

For decades now we were told that wine shipping would result in minors obtaining alcohol. It never has. States defending themselves against lawsuits challenging protections bans on wine shipping have long claimed that these discriminatory laws are necessary to advance the state’s interest in protecting the health and safety of their state’s citizens. No evidence has ever been presented that shows anything of the sort.

If you read Erikson’s feeble argument advancing “health and safety” as a reason to reject Postal Service shipping of alcohol, note that the one and only claim she makes to support this contention is this: “Expanding the shipping of alcohol to homes could exacerbate these problems.”

I’m honestly curious why Ms. Erikson did not also make the case that allowing the U.S. Postal Service to ship alcohol may lead to an increase in the U.S. murder rate, invite dangerous aliens to invade our planet, cause dams to crack, and buckle or lead to global cooling. All these things are equally likely to occur if the U.S. Postal Service begins shipping alcohol directly to consumers.

As lies are what we should not be promoting, let’s instead tell the truth. The source of Ms. Erikson’s and other opponents of Postal Service shipment of alcohol is the opposition to direct to consumer shipping in general. The fear is that allowing the Postal Service to ship wine along with FedEx and UPS is that it will amount to the federal government endorsing DTC alcohol shipping. That’s exactly what it is.

So here is the principle you should keep in mind. When a group’s number one argument for or against something is a straight-up lie, you can conclude with confidence that they possess no good arguments for their position.

By the way, it is notable that Ms. Erikson’s lie about the Postal Service shipping alcohol matches perfectly with the argument made by the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America’s argument against Postal Service alcohol shipping. Consider the first reason WSWA President and CEO Michelle Korsmo gives in that organization’s announcement that they oppose Postal Service reform:

“Allowing the USPS to ship beverage alcohol would compromise the work of policymakers across America who work hard to control underage access to alcohol and keep moderate levels of consumption part of safe and healthy communities.”

If you read all of WSWA’s statement concerning Postal Service alcohol shipment you will find that Ms. Korsmo, like Ms. Erikson, offers not a single piece of evidence to support their contention that alcohol shipping does anything to compromise the health and safety of communities or people. Zero.

Again, it’s important the remind folks like Ms. Korsmo and Ms. Erikson that they shouldn’t lie.

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6 Responses

  1. Linda Depaolo - July 14, 2021

    Consider the source..Oregon is in shambles..their legislature approved possession of small quantites of hard drugs..heroin….cocaine..
    Meth….and this lady from Oregon is worried about the postal system shipping wine..ludicrious..that state has fallen off the edge ….so glad I moved out in 2008.

  2. Jane Kettlewell - July 14, 2021

    Yet, I believe we can ship guns and knives via USPS.

  3. acv - July 14, 2021

    We live in a Postmodern Age. In 2016 Oxford dictionary word of the year was “Post Truth” and Time Magazine ran a cover “Is Truth dead”. In 21 Century America, the concept of truth is under assault.

    The founders were unanimous in saying that a free Society needed a population that possessed certain virtues and 4 stood out The Integrity of Marriage, Industriousness, Religiosity, and plain American honesty without those you cannot have a self-governing community. At least 3 of those virtues have fallen out of favor and honesty or being truthful, the last remaining virtue seems to have little agreement.

    “Post-truth” has been named as the word of the year for 2016 by Oxford Dictionaries. It is an adjective defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

  4. Jeff Swanson - July 14, 2021

    Alcohol is purchased online and shipped to one’s home by those who cannot find a particular beverage in their own community. Underage drinkers buy alcohol for immediate consumption–and we all know how slow the USPS can be.

  5. acv - July 14, 2021

    How apropos today – Wikipedia co-founder: I no longer trust the website I created.

    Unherd interview on YouTube https://youtu.be/l0P4Cf0UCwU
    Read the full article here: https://unherd.com/thepost/wikipedia-

    Great interview.

  6. Paul+Vandenberg - July 14, 2021

    My wife gets her pharmaceuticals via the USPs. Left in the mail box, no signature required.

    So???


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