Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007 | I recently met a woman who told me her 7 and 9 year old sons had been drinking Mike’s Hard Lemonade that they found in their aunt’s refrigerator. Since these sweet drinks that are called anything but beer or booze are not conspicuously labeled as alcoholic, it’s only a matter of time until a young child will die from these drinks. Nowadays you can’t tell a beer bottle or soda bottle from each other, let alone an alcopops bottle.
Underage drinking is our nation’s biggest health problem and is only getting worse. Wake up America — we’re brewing alcoholics and brain-damaged teenagers who will be a serious drain on our society within the next decade.
Taxing alcopops to limit their availability isn’t perfect, but it should be the first step of many to address this terrible problem.