Excessive Drinking Costs New Mexico $1.8 Billion a Year!

The Economic Costs

  •  Total Economic Cost to New Mexico: $1,876,108,000
  •  Economic Loss Per Drink: $2.36
  •  Annual Economic Loss Per Person: $960

Excessive drinking burdens our state with over $1.8 billion in economic costs

  • lost work days
  • increased insurance prices
  • higher health care cost

The Solution:

Increase the alcohol excise tax 25¢ per drink
Let excessive drinking pay for excessive drinking harms

  • Generating $154,090,910 in new state revenues annually.
  • Increasing annual economic productivity by $128,133,220 in New Mexico because employers would suffer fewer lost work days and less insurance costs due to decreased alcohol
  • consumption in employees.
  • Creating up to 2,800 new jobs, even after accounting for alcohol industry job losses.
  • Resulting in a 10% decrease in alcohol consumption, due to the increased cost of alcohol.

Boost our Economy and Create Jobs!

1Excessive Drinking includes: 1) binge drinking—5 or more in a sitting by men, 4 or more by women, 2) heavy drinking—15 or more drinks per week by men, 8 or more for women, 3) drinking by pregnant women, 4) drinking by people under age 21.
Source: Sacks. et al. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2013

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