A Covert War Against Drinking - American Beverage Institute

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The Anti Drunk Driving Campaign:A Covert War Against DrinkingBy Charles V. PeñaIntroductionIn the beginning, the campaign againstdrunk driving — led by Mothers AgainstDrunk Driving or MADD — was about savinglives. Born in the grief of its grassrootsmembership, in the 1980s it took on a realmenace: society’s tendency to wink at plastereddrivers who caused mayhem tothemselves and others.MADD’s legislative efforts resulted instates passing and enforcing a raft of antidrunkdriving laws. Across the nation, thereare now more than 23,000 traffic safety laws. 1MADD also helped to correct social normsabout drunk driving; drunks who drovewere transformed in the popular eye fromlovable, comic figures to reckless publicenemies. For its original mission, MADDfound many allies and spawned similargroups such as RID (Remove IntoxicatedDrivers), SADD (formerly Students AgainstDrunk Driving and now Students AgainstDestructive Decisions), and RADD(Recording Artists, Actors and AthletesAgainst Drunk Driving).With such broad backing, MADD succeeded.Drunk driving fatalities fell from28,000 in 1980 to 16,000 in 1998 (a 40%decrease) before rising slightly to 17,448 in2001. 2 By 1995, MADD had already reachedits Year 2000 goal of reducing drunk-drivingfatalities. 3 But along the path to success, theoriginal mission of getting truly drunk driversoff the road was lost. Indeed, the “cause”changed, blurring the line between (a) drunkdriving and (b) driving after any amount ofalcohol consumption — a couple of drafts ata ball game, a split of wine at an anniversarydinner, a retirement toast or two.Although MADD officially denies it isseeking the prohibition of moderate drinkingwhen dining out, it remains unofficiallycommitted to the prohibition of alcohol.Temperance is on the tongue of the organization’shighest officials:• According to former MADDPresident Katherine Prescott, “Thereis no safe blood alcohol level, and forthat reason responsible drinkingmeans no drinking and driving.” 4• “Lowering the legal [arrest]standard will be a deterrent forlight drinkers as well as heavydrinkers,”Prescott told USA Todayin 1998. (Emphasis added.) 5• “If you choose to drink, you shouldnever drive. We will not tolerate drinkingand driving — period,” MADDAmerican Beverage Licensees | America's Beer, Wine, and Spirits Retailers1
President-elect Karolyn Nunnalleetold an NBC audience in 1997. 6• MADD President Wendy Hamiltonurged potential contributors in aNovember 2002 fundraising letterto, “Forget the limits on BAC. It’sjust not acceptable to drink anddrive. Period.” 7• In a September, 2002 letter to the St.Louis Post-Dispatch, Hamilton said:“Driving is a very serious and complextask. The thought that it can besuccessfully combined with alcoholon the part of the driver or eventhe passengers defies any logic Ican imagine.” 8The .08% BAC DebateBAC, or blood alcohol content, is the measurementthat determines how much alcoholan individual has in his or her bloodstream.A BAC of .06 means that your blood has a.06% blood alcohol content. BAC also servesas a quick-and-easy quantifiable measurementthat allows law enforcement to define“drunk” in the context of drunk driving. Inthe 1990s, most states set .10% BAC as thelegal limit for driving — anything over thatlimit and you were breaking the law.In 1998, MADD pushed Congress to withholdfederal highway funds from any statethat failed to lower their legal limit to .08%BAC. MADD lost the battle in Washingtonthat year, and in the states. 1998 and 1999saw more than 50 separate legislative sessionscovering 32 states consider the .08%BAC standard. Only Texas and Washingtonadopted it. But in 2000, MADD successfullyreintroduced their legislation at the federallevel — far away from the normal citizenswhose state representatives passed hundredsof other highway-safety laws on their merits.At a high-profile White House Rose Gardenevent, Bill Clinton signed the .08% BAC billinto law. Now the 17 states that haven’t cavedinto federal blackmail are in the fight of theirlife. It isn’t easy tackling MADD and swellingbudget deficits at the same time.The battle over .08% BAC legislation glaringlyillustrates how MADD has turned itsattention from truly drunk drivers to drinkingmore generally. And how the anti-drunkdriving message shifted from “friends don’tlet friends drive drunk” to the more radicalmessage of “don’t drink and drive.”MADD generally attempts to mask its radical,neo-prohibitionist agenda in the veneerof sound science and sober statistics. So thepush to blackmail states into lowering thelegal BAC level required “studies” that mightprovide “evidence” of reduced drunk-drivingfatalities should their law pass. A fewinconvenient facts stood in MADD’s way.First, the U.S. Department of Transportation’sFatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)data show that the average BAC level in a fatalcrash where a driver was actually tested is.17% — more than double the proposed.08% BAC standard. 9 Second, the typicalDWI fatality is caused by a person whohas had more than nine drinks before driving.10 And third, nearly two-thirds ofalcohol-related deaths involve drivers with2American Beverage Licensees | America's Beer, Wine, and Spirits Retailers
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Page 5 and 6: eport predicting a 12% drop in alco
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