The influence of\u00a0alcohol\u00a0extends to almost every part of society \u2014 and yet it causes more\u00a0death and disease than any illegal drug.<\/p>\n
Alcohol leaves its mark not all at once, but one person at a time. It\u2019s a retired public servant who spent decades serving his city, now completely bed-ridden because of a preventable disease. A husband who gave up liquor years ago, dying of liver cancer and leaving behind an aging wife struggling to care for herself.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an alcohol-impaired,\u00a0multi-car crash collision<\/a>\u00a0that ends in needless deaths. Or a 30-year-old man in the ICU, whose body has begun to fail after drinking since his teens. These aren\u2019t outliers. As health leaders, these are the faces of\u00a0alcohol\u00a0harm we see, and the lives we fight to save every day.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why we were particularly shocked when in June, the\u00a0MTA\u00a0quietly reversed an almost decade-long ruling to now allow\u00a0alcohol\u00a0advertising<\/a>\u00a0on the subways and buses. This decision is a\u00a0blow\u00a0to New York\u2019s already overburdened medical system \u2014 and it couldn\u2019t come at a worse time.<\/p>\n In 2017, the\u00a0MTA\u00a0board took a necessary step to protect public health by officially\u00a0banning\u00a0alcohol\u00a0advertising<\/a> on subways and buses \u2014 a hard-won victory for New Yorkers of color, youth, and working-class riders already inundated with predatory marketing and its devastating health consequences.<\/p>\n In the years since, we\u2019ve learned even more about\u00a0alcohol\u2019s dangers, including its role as a\u00a0leading carcinogen<\/a>, while our health care system struggles to meet the rising demand for addiction treatment. Yet despite the growing body of evidence, the MTA\u00a0has reversed course, lifting its ban to pad its budget with new industry revenue.<\/p>\n Alcohol\u00a0remains the\u00a0most commonly used substance<\/a>\u00a0in the state, representing nearly\u00a046% of treatment admissions<\/a>. Excessive\u00a0alcohol\u00a0use already kills more than\u00a08,000<\/a>\u00a0New Yorkers each year, while\u00a0alcohol-related treatment costs the state more than $843 per person annually<\/a>, and more than\u00a0$12.6 billion statewide<\/a>.<\/p>\n So how does a substance so dangerous keep gaining ground?<\/p>\n Alcohol\u00a0advertising is a historically racist and exploitative practice, flooding generations of Black and Brown residents with\u00a0ads\u00a0for high\u00a0alcohol\u00a0products. NYC\u2019s liquor outlets are already\u00a0concentrated in communities of color<\/a>, a legacy of discriminatory redlining policies that segregated neighborhoods.<\/p>\n On public transit, alcohol\u00a0ads\u00a0disproportionately target those same riders, who according to\u00a0the city comptroller\u2019s office<\/a>, make up 67% of commuters citywide.\u00a0MTA\u00a0users also tend to be\u00a0lower income<\/a>: on average, bus riders earn just under $29,000, while subway riders make around $40,000.<\/p>\n Before the 2017 ban, targeted alcohol\u00a0ad campaigns placed thousands of New Yorkers of color at higher risk of harm. With their return to subways and buses, these\u00a0ads\u00a0now allow corporations to exploit the same people and expand their reach.<\/p>\n Simultaneously, abrupt federal policy changes further endanger New Yorkers\u2019 health. In 2020 alone, Medicaid spending on\u00a0alcohol-related claims accounted for\u00a0$129 million<\/a>. Now, 60 years out from the original\u00a0Medicare and Medicaid Act<\/a>, more than\u00a01.3 million New Yorkers<\/a>\u00a0are at risk of losing coverage thanks to unprecedented federal budget cuts.<\/p>\n Take Phoenix House, for instance, where up to 90% of clients rely on Medicaid to pay for addiction treatment. For Medicaid-insured community members already in recovery, seeing new\u00a0alcohol\u00a0ads could send them into relapse, right as the necessary funding and health care supports begin to disappear.<\/p>\n We see the toll\u00a0alcohol\u00a0takes on people. Why should we risk the health and safety of New Yorkers to barely cover the\u00a0MTA\u2019s operating expenses?<\/p>\n In recent years, we have covered critical ground in reducing\u00a0alcohol\u00a0use: research shows that\u00a0fewer young people are drinking\u00a0alcohol<\/a> with each year that passes.<\/p>\n However, alcohol\u00a0ads\u00a0drive youth to start drinking<\/a>\u00a0and contribute to\u00a0binge drinking<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 the most common form of dangerous\u00a0alcohol\u00a0use that places people at risk for addiction, cancer, heart disease, suicide, sexual assault, and car accidents. By bringing back the same\u00a0alcohol\u00a0marketing campaigns, the\u00a0MTA Board\u2019s vote completely undermines this progress.<\/p>\n The\u00a0MTA\u00a0got this right seven years ago. We cannot allow new\u00a0alcohol\u00a0ads to erase the public health gains we have made since. The health and wellbeing of our city \u2014 and our ability to save patients\u2019 lives \u2014 depends on it.<\/p>\n