Sari-Sari Stores and Alcoholism

SO MUCH of the environment can be a factor in human behavior. The same is true with alcoholism. A study in 1993 has documented how the number of alcoholic drinks outlets in a neighborhood relates strongly to the level of diagnosed alcoholics in the same neighborhood.

And it was not only alcoholism that found much influence from the neighborhood.

Certain groups of crimes and diseases related to alcoholism can also be linked.

Such legal offenses include fatal and injury traffic crashes, drunk driving, assaultive violence and liquor law violations. Diseases noted include cirrhosis (which eventually led to death) and sexually transmitted diseases.

A 2007 study also noted the contribution of alcohol outlets in physical disorders (graffiti, liquor advertising, and trash) as well as social concerns (loitering, drug sales, prostitution, and altercations). That was more or less the American picture.

The Theall study in 2011 noted that liquor stores are the... [READ MORE]

This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 11 July 2012.

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