Public health advocates are urging Maryland's governor to veto a bill passed last week that will officially designate alcopops as beer, allowing drinks like Jack Daniel's Black Jack Cola to remain more widely distributed -- and taxed much less -- than distilled spirits.

Despite vocal opposition to the measure by the state's attorney general and a coalition of health officials, churches, and citizens, the Maryland House of Delegates passed the bill shortly before midnight on April 7 -- in the final minutes of the legislative session, the Baltimore Sun reported April 8.

In a letter (PDF) to governor Martin O'Malley urging a veto, the Marin Institute noted that the bill had heavy support from alcohol industry interests. "Maryland bill HB 879 was authored by Mary Ann E. Love, chair of the House Alcoholic Beverages Subcommittee and recipient of more campaign contributions in 2006 from the alcohol industry than from any other source," said Michael Scippa, advocacy director for the group.

The bill, propelled through the legislature by intense alcohol industry lobbying, overturned an earlier ruling by Maryland attorney general Douglas Gansler that alcopops should be classified as spirits, the Baltimore Sun reported April 1.

Gansler publicly opposed the bill, holding a news conference at which he held up a bottle of Smirnoff Source. Noting the product label that reads "contains pure spring water + alcohol," Gansler said classifying such beverages as beer was ludicrous. "Beer is yellow with foam," he said. "This is not beer."

The attorney general said that the drinks appeal broadly to teenagers and cited dangers from alcopop products like Sparks, which looks like an energy drink and contains both alcohol and high levels of caffeine.

Neil Goldberg, a father of a Maryland teenager killed by a drunk driver, blamed the alcohol industry for putting alcopop profits ahead of teen safety. "They are greedy," he said while testifying against the legislation. "Be there no doubt. These products are marketed to our children....They taste like soda pop."

In arguing for a gubernatorial veto, the Marin Institute's Scippa observed that some states have already taken steps to restrict underage access to the drinks. "Just last month, following California and Maine's lead, the state of Utah decided alcopops were too dangerous to youth and ordered that sales be limited to state run liquor stores," he noted in the letter to the Maryland governor.

(Previous coverage: Maryland the Latest Target in Industry Bid to See Alcopops Classified as Beer)