Colorado voters expanded access to beer and wine as the gradual rise in Colorado’s already high rate of alcohol deaths was accelerating, experts said.
Distributors and suppliers stock wine at a Safeway store in Aurora on March 1, 2023. Colorado voters approved Proposition 125 in 2022, expanding wine sales to grocery stores across the state.
Changing liquor laws is difficult, but with all of the major parts of the industry backing the soft last call concept, it could be successful in the legislature, said Rep. Marc Snyder, a Colorado Springs Democrat and chair of the committee that regulates alcohol. In 2022, Snyder introduced a bill toin the hope that bargoers would be less likely to get into fights if they could disperse more gradually, but it died in a different committee.
Denver has the highest density of alcohol outlets in the state, with about 13 bars, liquor stores and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol and other alcohol retailers for every square mile as of 2020,. It also has a high rate of alcohol-related illnesses and injuries, with about one in seven hospitalizations at Denver Health from 2018 to 2022 related to alcohol consumption — more than twice the number of hospitalizations for opioid use.
“Since the local governments are the ones that do zoning, I assume they would object to any state preemption,” Hackenberger said. Teens in resort communities see alcohol all around them, which skews their view of how important drinking is to socializing, said Michelle Stecher, executive director of Mountain Youth in Edwards. The 81657 zip code, which includes much of Vail and Avon, has the second-highest ratio of licensed alcohol businesses to population in the state, behind only the Winter Park area, with about 24 sellers per 1,000 people.
“Many of the resort communities like ours really celebrate the party lifestyle,” Stecher said. “The message that sends to young people is either, ‘That’s OK,’ or, ‘To have fun, the bike ride has to end with that cooler of beer.'” “We often hear concerns from parents that if they don’t let their kids go to the party, they’re going to be socially isolated,” she said.noted that its residents were more likely than Coloradans in general to report binge drinking, but that a smaller percentage of the county’s fatal crashes involved someone whose blood alcohol was above the legal limit. Excessive alcohol use didn’t make it into the county’s, which focused on access to health care and the health effects of climate change.
People who no longer drink can struggle to find ways to be social in Colorado and in much of the country, said Trevor Flick, who works at the fitness-focused sober community The Phoenix in Denver. The Phoenix offers alternatives, like an alcohol-free dance that was part of Pride celebrations in June, a “Sober Bowl” party for those who don’t feel comfortable being around beer during the big game and a Halloween event, he said.
Part of the reason sobriety can be so difficult in the beginning is that people who drink excessively often find their social relationships revolve around alcohol, said Heidi, a Boulder resident who spoke on the condition her last name not be published to protect her privacy.For people who have recently stopped drinking and are still making that adjustment, it can be particularly challenging to find alcohol in places they can’t avoid, like grocery stores, Heidi said.
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