DON'T RAID ABC REVENUES

A recent story about adolescent substance abuse highlighted the conclusion
that it's easier for teens to buy marijuana than beer -- which sounds like
bad news about the availability of pot. But while there's no question that
marijuana and other illegal drugs are far too readily available, the survey
results could be interpreted another way.

They also suggest that education and law-enforcement programs designed to
keep alcohol out of the hands of minors are bearing results. So perhaps
it's not really easier to get pot than in years past; it's just harder for
teens to buy beer and wine at convenience stores and other outlets. That
appears to be borne out in Rowan County, where sales of alcohol to minors
in undercover operations have declined sharply, according to local Alcohol
Beverage Control officials. Credit that drop to a crackdown on illegal
sales, combined with local education programs that work with schools and
other groups to stem alcohol and drug abuse.

Unfortunately, those gains are threatened by a state budget proposal that
would make local Alcoholic Beverage Control Boards divert more of their
money to the state Alcoholic Law Enforcement program, currently funded
through general revenues. Enactment of the measure, part of the House
budget proposal, would mean the loss of $95,000 in Rowan. Officials say
that could be a crippling blow for enforcement and education efforts,
resulting in the loss of at least one of the two local officers who
concentrate in those areas and perhaps dooming the entire program.

The measure also could mean that ABC boards would have less money available
to help support alcohol treatment programs, which currently get a portion
of their funding through ABC budgets.

Although the state ALE and local ABC officers have the same authority and
sometimes work together on undercover operations, this isn't a case where
there's a wasteful duplication of services. There are only 55 ALE officers
statewide, most of them concentrating on areas that don't have a local ABC.
The diversion of funds wouldn't provide any additional ALE officers,
either. In other words, local counties gain little or nothing from this
change. It's simply another way for the legislature to shift more of its
budget shortfall onto local shoulders, as it did earlier in withholding
revenue reimbursements and utility franchise fees from counties and
municipalities.

While supporters of the measure have promised it would be in force for only
a year, that's at least a year's worth of increased illegal alcohol sales
to teens, priming carnage on the roads and future substance addiction.
Local officials also have learned all too well that the state's temporary
revenue diversions have a way of mutating into permanent changes.

If legislators are so firmly convinced that more revenue needs to come from
alcoholic beverages, they have other options for making that happen,
including raising the tax on package store sales or levying higher permit
fees, or even raising mandatory fines for drunken driving. Picking the
pockets of local ABC boards is not the way to do it. Shifting this funding
burden from Raleigh to Rowan and other counties is an abysmally
short-sighted decision that will compromise alcohol and drug-abuse
education, hamper law enforcement and erode treatment efforts around the state.