To the editor,
I’d be tempted to be more persuaded by Bruce Wark’s editorial against Sunday alcohol sales (“Spinning the bottle,” July 5) if it wasn’t placed opposite a full-page ad for Corona Extra. But then again, there has never been proven to be any causal relationship between alcohol advertising and alcohol consumption. Similarly, there is very little evidence to suggest a relationship between the availability of alcohol and per capita consumption. Wark is rightly concerned about the devastating costs of alcohol, but he conveniently ignores the complex psychological, sociological and environmental factors that contribute to these costs. Simply blaming the province for extending liquor store hours is as easy as questioning The Coast’s judgment in marketing alcohol to college students, surely a large segment of your reader demographic.
By Bryce Tache
This article appears in Jul 5-11, 2007.