AMHERST — On the Monday after the holiday well known for its green beer, about 50 people met in the Old Chapel of the University of Massachusetts to discuss all things alcohol.
Manufacturers, retailers and those who regulate them and police their customers came together to discuss best practices and regulatory measures for the industry.
The event was organized by the UMass Campus and Community Coalition alongside the Strategic Planning Initiative for Families and Youth (SPIFFY) Coalition.
“There’s going to be debate in the Legislature and among the constituent groups and I think hearing from everybody today is going to be really helpful in really developing some common ground,” said Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, who moderated the event.
Sullivan was referring to final recommendations released last year by the Alcohol Task Force convened by the state treasurer. The intent of its work was to support economic growth of the alcohol industry while protecting public health.
Pete Wilson, a work group chairman on the task force, was a panelist at the Monday meeting.
“Public health folks are very, very vocal and I really appreciate their passion and the work that they do,” Wilson said. “I really respect the fact that they came out the way that they did, because it impacted the way that we viewed the issue versus how we could have. It wasn’t just an industry-driven process.”
Panelist Ted Mahoney said that caps on the number of licenses issued and enforcement of pricing regulations in bars and restaurants are needed to avoid a “race to the bottom.”
Mahoney is chief investigator for the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, the licensing and enforcement agency under the state treasury that governs the alcohol industry.
“In Brighton on New Year’s Eve, I found myself at midnight … literally picking young people up out of the gutter, off of the sidewalk — and this is very troubling to me,” Mahoney said. “When I talked to the bar owners they all had the same response: ‘Look, we don’t want to do this. We have to do it because the guy on the other side of the street does it.’”
Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone said one of the most effective ways to combat the public health risks associated with alcohol was to teach minors the laws associated with underage drinking.
“Enforcement is part of it, but the outreach and education component is an area that we choose as an agency and I think we are doing a good job at it,” Livingstone said.
Panelists brought up concerns with the current status of the ABCC’s “three-tier system,” the industry structure of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.
Although each tier is designed to be independent from the others, Rob Mellion, general counsel of the Massachusetts Package Store Association, said the line is increasingly being blurred as small breweries begin to act as their own retailers by creating their own pubs.
The pubs represent new competition for package stores, bars and restaurants that sell beer.
“Don’t think that’s not having an impact,” Mellion said of the growth of brewery pubs. “It’s not just the package stores that will be feeling the pressure here, it’s all of us. And we have far more in common than we have differences on these issues.”
Differences, though, were expresssed. Tanzi Cannon-Eckerle, owner of Brew Practitioners, a brewery and taproom in Florence, said she disagreed with Mellion.
After the meeting, Cannon-Eckerle explained that she didn’t think breweries that act as their own wholesaler and retailer are a threat to alcoholic beverage regulation.
“We are part of our community and we give back to our community. We self-regulate and we are regulated by the local level, the state level and the federal level,” Cannon-Eckerle said. “We are regulated heavily, actually, to much more our detriment because we have smaller revenues.”
Most of the panelists at the forum voiced the feeling that retailers have a duty to protect the public’s health by following current regulations.
“For the retailers out there, I ask you to remember that you are selling a controlled substance, and the results could be devastating,” Mahoney said.