More Work Urged to Combat Minority Drinking Problems

The alcohol industry has done better promoting drinking in minority communities than health planners and community leaders have in urging moderation, speakers said Monday at a conference on alcohol-related problems in San Fernando and Pacoima.

Juana Mora, an associate professor in the Chicano studies department at Cal State Northridge, told about 125 community activists and leaders that although they were ahead of other ethnic communities in addressing issues such as drunk driving and the proliferation of alcohol outlets, daunting challenges remain.

One problem, she said, is a lack of research into how minority communities can best address such issues. “There are no effective models for addressing alcohol problems in ethnic communities,” she said. “There’s been little response to these problems by local, state or national agencies. These communities are almost invisible.”

Meanwhile, she said, the alcohol industry has succeeded in reaching out to minority communities such as Pacoima and San Fernando, which are largely Latino and black. The companies have conducted extensive marketing research and advertised in Spanish, targeted minorities with certain products and invested in ethnic communities by sponsoring scholarships and civic and sporting events.

Mora, who has studied liquor consumption by Latino women in particular, said alcohol industry advertising aimed at Latinos focuses on drinking with friends and family rather than alone. The advertising is effective because it is consistent with Latino drinking patterns, she said.

“Especially because of the growth rate of Latino communities, there’s a new and vigorous effort in the alcohol industry to advertise in Latino communities, Latino publications and Spanish-language television stations,” Mora said.

The alcohol industry contends that its advertising only promotes brand loyalty and does not increase consumption. But Mora said consumption by Latinos and blacks and the problems it brings have increased in recent years while declining among whites.

She said the current working draft of the state’s five-year master plan for alcohol- and drug-related problems is an example of how policy-makers have failed to address minority drinking problems. The draft does not specifically mention ways of dealing with alcohol and drug problems among Latinos, blacks, American Indians or women, she said.

Mora was the keynote speaker at a conference in Pacoima sponsored by the Environmental Alcohol Prevention Task Force of Pacoima and San Fernando. The conference was aimed at focusing the efforts of a coalition made up of the Northeast Valley Health Corp., Pacoima Coordinating Council, Latino Coalition on Alcohol Issues and Focus 90, a group of business owners and homeowners.

For the past several years those organizations have been working to control the number of liquor stores in the community and pushing to make existing stores crack down on drug sales, graffiti, loitering and littering near their establishments. They have also pushed for ordinances restricting the use of alcohol in public places, such as parks.

In preparation for the conference, Los Angeles County paid for a yearlong $100,000 study of drunk driving, alcohol availability, and advertising and attitudes toward alcohol in the area. Among the findings was that recently immigrated Latinos are more tolerant of drinking to get drunk or to reduce stress, and are more likely to be arrested for drunk driving.

Researcher Carlos Arce, who conducted the study, said he was shocked by the findings. “This is the group that needs to be targeted the most directly in prevention and treatment programs,” he said.

Fried Wittner, a project director at the Institute for the Study of Social Change, told the audience that to be successful the coalition should try to limit the number of retail outlets in the area, promote ordinances that specifically limit public consumption of alcohol and shape community attitudes toward drinking.

He also said the coalition needs to find a way to promote intolerance of excessive drinking. “We emphasize affecting problems of the environment, rather than asking individuals to change,” he said.

He said Monday’s conference represented the transition from assessing the community’s problems to solving them. Wittner said he expected it will take one to two years to find solutions and another two years to put them in place.