AFC Newsletter Winter 2025
Dear Friend:
I am excited about the next year or two, and further out. We plan to expand our operations considerably. We are in the planning stages right now, so we will do a special letter later when we're ready to break out our new program.
These are very bold plans, and we will need the Christian Community to back us as much as possible. We are going for broke. Because the situation is so critical with the alcohol crisis in America, we will put everything possible into this fight, to take back territory the alcohol business has taken from us and to stop them from continuing to destroy what they have been destroying for years and years.
I am personally fed up with the alcohol industry always getting their way. And they do always get their way, as I have shown in a previous letter. They are encroaching on every aspect of our lives, and no one seems to be making an attempt to stop them. When is enough, enough? We must, yes, must, do something about this growing crisis.
In reality, this alcohol crisis is actually a worldwide problem. For instance, alcohol consumption contributes to 2.6 million deaths each year globally, as well as to disabilities and poor health for millions of people. Overall, harmful use of alcohol is responsible for 4.7% of global disease.
Of course, naturally, we can only address the problem here in America. But we can do that. And we are planning to do that. But what do we see as the key to beginning to correct this monumental problem?
THE KEY: EDUCATION
In 2003, as I began, along with others, to try to stop the infringement of alcohol into our dry counties in Arkansas through bogus private clubs, I began to look at the facts regarding the problems caused by alcohol consumption. I have to say, I was absolutely astounded at what I found. It was so bad I thought, surely people don't know about these problems; otherwise, they would do something about it.
I have covered a lot of this information in my newsletters. Those of you who have seen my blue booklet exposing the problems of alcohol know what I mean. Obviously, the general public is not aware of the seriousness of the problem, since no effort is being made to address it.
Our plan here at Arkansas Family Coalition is to begin with a massive educational campaign. Education on this issue is what we have been trying to do for about six years, and now we are poised to greatly increase that effort. It is time to ratchet up the effort. I believe, based on my personal observation from speaking to people about this issue, that there are many misunderstandings about alcohol. We have become such a culture of alcohol that most people don't see a problem unless it affects them personally in some way.
Though education on this problem will be our focus, we will also be action-oriented. We will be urging people to take specific action whenever and wherever they can. And there are many ways to do that. We plan to share those things also. We will be encouraging communities across not only Arkansas, but across the United States, to stand up and put a stop to the carnage being inflicted on the public by the alcohol industry, while they line their pockets with blood money.
HOW THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY THRIVES WHILE ROBBING AMERICAN CITIZENS
In 2022, total gross alcoholic beverage sales in the United States reached nearly $260 billion.
According to Statista Research Department (June 7, 2023), alcohol tax revenue in the U.S. in 2022 amounted to $10.2 billion.
Compare this to what these sales cost the public.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the sale and use of alcohol cost the public, you and me, $265,906,500,000. This number comes from multiplying the U.S. population by the CDC’s estimated annual cost of $807 for every man, woman, and child in America.
The alcohol industry tries to make us believe that selling alcohol is “worth it” because of jobs, brewers, bartenders, truck drivers, waiters, builders, maintenance, etc. Yes, there are many jobs involved. But some jobs they don’t want you thinking about: law enforcement, judges, bailiffs, public defenders, prison staff, ambulance drivers, medical personnel, social workers, and more.
But let’s suppose, for argument’s sake, that the numbers balanced and there was no financial burden on the public. The cost in human suffering is so astronomical that no rational mind could accept the incredible problems caused by alcohol in this country without making some effort to thwart them.
SURGEON GENERAL REPORT: EVEN SMALL AMOUNTS OF ALCOHOL CAN CAUSE CANCER
On Jan. 3, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a sobering report about the cancer risks linked to alcohol. In his advisory, Dr. Vivek Murthy outlined the substantial evidence behind increased cancer risk, even for people consuming as little as one daily drink, or even less.
He stated:
“What we know with a high degree of confidence is that there is a causal link between alcohol and cancer risk.”
The advisory cites alcohol as the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States.
This information is not new to me. On page six of our booklet, The High Cost of Alcohol, we list the seven cancers linked to alcohol:
Breast
Rectum
Oropharynx
Larynx
Esophagus
Colon
Liver
Note: Any effort to add cancer warning labels to alcohol would face enormous pushback from a well-funded beverage industry, which spends nearly $30 million per year lobbying Congress.
FREE BOOKLET ON ALCOHOL
As part of our educational campaign, we are offering a copy of our 12-page booklet, referenced above, free to anyone who requests it.
Our goal is to place a copy, completely free of charge, into the hands of as many families as possible. We would like to begin with the churches. You could be very helpful with this effort by seeing that each family in your church receives one of these booklets.
DISTURBING TREND
As I was finishing this letter, I came across additional disturbing information.
Since 2010, spirits have enjoyed the most growth, mostly at the expense of beer. In 2023, spirits accounted for 42.2% of the alcohol market in the U.S., compared to 33.3% in 2010. Beer has lost 7% of its market share over that same period.
Apparently, many drinkers are turning from beer to hard liquor, a dangerous trend whichever way you look at it.