Kentucky Counties That Prohibit Alcohol May End Up With Bigger Meth Problem

Counties that prohibit alcohol sales may end up with more meth lab seizures, researchers in Kentucky conclude. They estimate that if all counties in the state were to allow alcohol sales, the number of meth lab seizures statewide would decline by about 25 percent.

Researchers from the University of Louisville looked at counties that prohibited sales of alcohol completely (“dry”), allowed it within only certain municipalities (“moist”), and did not place any restrictions on alcohol sales (“wet”). They found dry counties had higher rates of meth lab busts and meth crimes, The Washington Post reports. The researchers estimate that if alcohol sales were unrestricted, the number of meth labs in dry and moist counties would fall by 37 percent.

The researchers found that local alcohol prohibition increases the incidence of ER visits for burns, which is consistent with local meth labs being run by poorly trained amateur “cooks.”

“Our results add support to the idea that prohibiting the sale of alcohol flattens the punishment gradient, lowering the relative cost of participating in the market for illegal drugs,” they wrote in the study.

They note, “Although it’s not clear how well our results would generalize to other states or to substances other than alcohol, our study provides an example in which liberalizing the treatment of one substance can be an effective policy tool for another substance.”