Oregon Wants Lower Alcohol Consumption; Is Idaho Next?

With bars and nightclubs shut down for the majority of the last 12-months, you would think that liquor sales in the State of Idaho would have taken a hit. Well, we learned a couple of months ago that that assumption was far from the truth--liquor sales were UP and more Idahoans than ever were stuck at home. It was time to stock up. I've never been one to drink at home so I think my 2020 was more "dry" than originally planned. Although, I did still have my share of tequila.

While Idahoans keep driving to the watering hole that is the local, state-run liquor store--Oregon is working to put together a task force that aims to cut back on alcohol consumption.

This all stems after a bill that would have raised beer and wine tax by about 3,000% in our neighboring State of Oregon was slowed down.

A group in Oregon called "Oregon Recovers" wants to see alcohol consumption in the state DECREASE and the way they see making that happen is by increasing the cost of alcohol. The group calls alcohol consumption toxic and addictive.

If these goals by Oregon Recovers were to be approved and come to fruition, a bipartisan group of healthcare professionals and alcohol industry workers would need to iron out how to increase costs of alcohol by November of this year. Again, the goal is to increase the price enough to bring down the State of Oregon consumption by a whole 15%.

The task seems daunting and nobody knows how realistic this is--however, would people pay the price uptick to get their drinks? With the number of breweries and distilleries in Oregon, you have to assume so.

While nothing like this faces the State of Idaho at the moment, you can't help but wonder the influence it would have on our state. Would Oregonians be driving into Idaho to buy liquor for cheaper prices? Would Idaho see an opportunity to do the same and bring in more money to the state? Only time will tell.