Western NC Alliance For Safe and Drug-Free Communities PO BOX 11 Hayesville, NC 28904 (828) 389-6557 safeanddrugfreeclaycounty@gmail.com www.drugfreeclaycounty.com RE: Proper oversight of current ABC Funds Dear Representative: In March 2009 you received the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM) Task Force on Substance Abuse Services Interim Report to the General Assembly. This is a report that provides information to assist you in deciding the need to increase the Tax On Beer in North Carolina. It also provides recommendations on how the estimated additional revenue of over 200 million dollars should be allocated. We are writing you this letter to encourage you to pass the Beer Tax increase with the requirement that it must support prevention and treatment efforts in the Rural Counties of Western North Carolina (attachment A). The North Carolina Child Health Report Card for the past four years has given failing grades in the area of substance use in grades 9 – 12. 2005 2006 2007 2008 Cigarettes D D D D Marijuana F F F D Alcohol F F F F Cocaine C D D F These grades are surely not what you desire since over the past four years the North Carolina General Assembly has allocated $33,713,859 “for the treatment of alcoholism or substance abuse, or for research or education on alcohol or substance abuse” (Chapter 18B Regulation of Alcoholic Beverages. Article 8 Operation of ABC Stores 18B-805). In this legislation, you state that those persons receiving funds or board shall submit an annual report describing how the funds were spent. The IOM Recommendation did not call for an independent evaluation of pilot projects and implementation of the state plan. This should be a requirement of the funding. Oversight is imperative to insuring the success of any strategy for substance abuse prevention. The lack of oversight is why the ABC $33,713,859 appears to not be having an impact on the State Report Card that has four F’s in prevention of Alcohol use in grades 9 – 12. An independent study should be conducted on why the current strategy cannot do better than the report card data on page 1 of this letter. You gave $9,850,000 in 2007 to prevention and look what you received. Are you going to allocate another $9,217,000 for an annual total of $19,067,000 and get a repeat of the same performance? The ABC distribution data on the attached spreadsheet is from the ABC Annual Report of 2008 and confirms that the economic environment of Rural Western North Carolina does not support any significant allocation of ABC funding to rural Western North Carolina counties. Currently, only three counties receive 84% of the 2007 funds. None of these counties are in Western North Carolina. We encourage you to not distribute the funds from the increase in the BEER TAX in the same manner. The additional tax revenue should be used to provide for prevention and treatment of substance abuse prior to being allocated to other state initiatives. Money does not guarantee the improvement of failing grades. A sound proven strategy and implementation plan that is properly funded will make a difference. The creation and funding of the Western Alliance for Safe and Drug-Free Communities will ensure state report cards with failing grades will not be representative of rural Western North Carolina communities. Please support the Coalition For A Safe And Drug-Free Clay County in being selected by the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services (DMHDDSAS) as the Rural Pilot to create the Western North Carolina Regions and Alliance in the MHDDSAS region that represents Western North Carolina rural communities (IOM Recommendation 4.1 PRIORITY RECOMMENDATION). Please let me know that you received my e-mail. Please call the Coalition office should you desire any additional information or detail concerning the Pilot Project to create a Western North Carolina Alliance For Safe And Drug-Free Communities. Thank you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ATTACHMENT A* Recommendation 5. 2 (a) The Department of Juvenile Justice (Juvenile Crime Prevention Council), Department of Corrections (Criminal Justice Partnership program), Division of Public Instruction, Division of Social Services, Division of Public Health, and county commissioners should provide data to the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services on public funds used to support substance abuse prevention and treatment services, number of people served, and types of services provided in each county. (b) The North Carolina General Assembly should choose and implement an equalization formula to ensure that Local Management Entities (LMEs) receive comparable funding to achieve equity in access to care and services while recognizing the inherent challenges of delivering services in low-wealth rural counties. This equalization formula should be used to distribute any new state funds provided to support substance abuse prevention and treatment activities, with low-funded LMEs obtaining a higher proportion of the funding. *RECOMMENDATION 5.2(B) WAS NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR MARCH 2009 REPORT

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RE: The establishment of a committee to review the programs funded by ABC legislated state revenues throughout the state We recommend that the Governor appoint a 3-panel Advisory Board to insure proper management of the current ABC monies allocated to produce effective results. We believe that someone from the field of prevention, like Phil Mooring of Families In Action, Inc., Honorable Ronald Bogle, and someone from the NCDHHS should be appointed to this Advisory Board. The North Carolina Child Health Report Card for the past four years has given failing grades in the area of alcohol use in grades 9 – 12. We do not think we could receive F’s if the prevention aspect of substance use was funded and properly managed. Underage drinkers account for nearly 1/3 of all alcohol sales. According to 2005 data, underage drinking alone costs NC $1.2 billion annually in healthcare and other costs. Over 70% of North Carolinians support an increase in the beer/malt beverage tax. The tax on malt beverages has not been increased since Richard Nixon was president in 1969. A tax increase is supported as a proven means of reducing underage drinking by the 2003 National Academy of Sciences, Congressional Report, Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility; and the 2009 NC Institute of Medicine Substance Abuse Task Force Report to the General Assembly. Therefore, we ask that you support the following: • Increase the tax on malt beverages from $0.53 per gallon (this is only approximately a nickel per 12 oz. beer can/bottle) to $1.59 per gallon (this is approximately 15 cents per 12 oz. beer can/bottle); • which will generate an additional $289 million for the state of NC • This tax on malt beverages should support an Underage Drinking Prevention Fund. This fund should be sustained annually by receipt of 8% of all malt beverage taxes. This fund should be used to support community-based initiatives and programs designed to prevent underage drinking. Part of the funding should be set aside to support a statewide media campaign aimed at preventing underage drinking. Thank you for your consideration of our request. You can see Phil Mooring's bio by clicking on our Alcohol Facts link or go to www.familiesinaction.org, click on about us and then staff.

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