The alcohol industry makes an estimated $22.5 billion by selling to underage drinkers and another $25.8 billion from sales to alcoholics and other problem drinkers, according to a report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA).

The Bergen Record reported May 1 that the report -- based on a review of previously published studies -- estimated that underage drinkers account for 17.5 percent of all alcohol sales in the U.S., while problem drinkers account for an additional 20 percent.

"Underage and pathological drinkers are the alcohol industry's most valuable customers," said CASA president and CEO Joseph A. Califano, Jr.

Jeff Becker, president of the Beer Institute, said that the industry spends more than $50 million annually to prevent underage drinking. "It is disappointing that this study fails to note the substantial progress that has been made in the fight against underage drinking," he said. "Numerous other recent studies ... including a Centers for Disease Control report cited in this study, have shown record-low levels of illegal underage drinking and continued declines ... Clearly, CASA is engaged in issue advocacy, not objective statistics."

Califano said government should take a more forceful role in regulating alcohol advertising. "Self-regulation by the alcohol industry is a delusion that ensnares too many children and teens," he said.

But Mary Engle, associate director for advertising practices at the Federal Trade Commission, said that industry self-regulation allows for more specific restrictions than a federal agency could constitutionally impose. "Any government restrictions would have to be narrowly tailored in such a way they would advance the goal of reducing underage drinking without unduly impinging on adults' rights to receive these ads," she said. "We think industry self-regulation has the potential to be more effective, quicker and more flexible than government regulation, but it's important that they follow through."

Engle said that a recent FTC investigation into marketing of "alcopops" found no evidence that underage drinkers were being targeted. "It would be very hard to prove, because the themes that will appeal to 21- and 22-year-olds will also appeal to older teens," she said.

The CASA study was published in the May 2006 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Foster, S., Vaughan, R., Foster, W., & Califano, Jr., J. (2006).  Estimate of the Commercial Value of Underage Drinking and Adult Abusive and Dependent Drinking to the Alcohol Industry. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 160(5): 473-478.