Drinking during a slow economy

You can’t get away from the reminders of a slow economy these days. Rising gas and food prices, job cuts and the mortgage mess are constant headlines. While many Americans have curbed their spending, it seems that alcohol sales have remained strong. CNN.com recently wrote an interesting article that talks about how the economy affects people’s drinking habits.

Despite lagging sales in other categories, alcohol sales seem to be up in many areas of the country. Connecticut reports that the taxes it collects on sales of alcoholic beverages are up 4.7%  for the fiscal year that ended in June. Pennsylvania also reported that sales of wine and liquor are up 4.7% for the 11 months ending in May, to $1.63 billion.

Says Danny Brager of The Nielsen Company, “A lot of consumers would still consider alcoholic beverages as an affordable indulgence.” According to Nielsen, more than 80% of people said they were spending the same amount on alcohol they were a year ago or more.

It seems that Americans would rather shift their drinking habits rather than give up alcohol all together. People are turning to less expensive options – giving up top-shelf liquor or imported beer, for example. And if the domestic beer costs too much to drink at the bar, then they’ll simply buy a 6 pack and bring it home to drink.

The article does point out that drinking habits can significantly change during “a persistent economic downturn.” While the wealthy may still be able to afford to drink, poorer consumers are the first to cut back their drinking.

In the meantime, American brewers like Budweiser are sure to reap the benefits of a slow economy.

Read the full article, “Drinking habits and the economy”

technorati tags: drinking, alcohol, economy, CNN

Internet Pharmacy Websites the New Drug Dealers

Prescription drug use is on the rise here in the United States. According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 16.2 million Americans age 12 and older had taken a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant or sedative for nonmedical purposes at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.

Teenagers and adults don’t have to use a drug dealer when they can get drugs in their medicine cabinets. And if the cabinet is empty, they can just as easily get prescription drugs from the Internet. And they don’t even need a prescription. CNN.com has an article about these online pharmacies and how they create and feed addicts.

According to the report, it is illegal in every state for doctors to prescribe medicines to patients whom they do not know across state lines. It is also illegal in most states for pharmacies to ship prescriptions to where they have no license to operate. A CNN reporter had no problem ordering and quickly receiving via mail both Prozac and Elavil. Both prescription bottles had a doctors name that the reporter hadn’t seen, talked to, or heard of.

Read the full article: Widow: My husband died from online drugs

CNN’s Anderson Cooper investigates further why doctors write online prescriptions for patients they never see tonight at 10:00pm.

Technorati Tags: internet pharmacy, prescription drugs, CNN, addiction