Note on the Effects of Changes in Alcohol Control Policies in the Canadian North

• NCJ Number: 72602
• Journal: Journal of Studies on Alcohol Volume: 40 Issue: 9 Dated: (1979) Pages: 908-913
• Author(s): R G Smart
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Of three Northern Territories communities in Canada changing their alcohol control policies, only Frobisher Bay, the most isolated, experienced a noticeable decrease in arrests for assault and public drunkenness.

Abstract

Data were gathered from police records of arrests for public drunkenness, assault, and driving while impaired from the communities of Frobisher Bay, Rae-Edzo, Fort Resolution, Inuvik, and Pangnirtung. In the first three, package store closings, prohibition, and alcohol rationing were put into effect during the 1970's, when local option votes supported banning or limiting the sale of various beverages. The latter two communities which experienced no policy change were observed for comparison. The results show that changes in alcohol control policy had little effect in Rae-Edzo or Fort Resolution but considerable effect in Frobisher Bay, where arrest rates for public drunkenness and assault decreased markedly and arrests for driving while impaired showed no change. Driving while impaired typically follows drinking in homes or bars, which would have been less affected by the closing of stores (in Frobisher Bay), while arrests for public drunkenness would be affected by the policy change. The difference between Frobisher Bay and the other towns was predictable because it is the most isolated of the three areas studied. It is not on a road system and when its package store closed, alcoholic beverages had to be imported by air or sea. Arrests for public drunkenness were already declining when the package store was closed, and arrests for assault were fluctuating but generally declining. Arrests for public drunkenness and assault showed an immediate reduction after the store's closing and later a return to a level approximating preclosing levels. Perhaps the public debate about alcohol problems and the expected closing helped to generate more caution in drinking. However, if the citizens follow the method of pooling alcohol orders and chartering planeloads of liquor, the store's closing will only have temporary effects. A table and six references are provided.