Regulating Access to Liquor through a Liquor Card System and Supervised Retail Outlets: Evidence from a Public Opinion Survey

Abstract

Liquor retailing in Tamil Nadu presents a persistent policy dilemma: the trade contributes substantially to state revenue while simultaneously imposing severe social costs on families and communities. This study examines public receptiveness to an alternative regulatory model, namely the issue of "liquor cards" to consumers and the routing of liquor sales through supervised retail channels. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 123 adult respondents (mean age 37.8 years; 31.7 per cent self-reported drinkers) and analysed using SPSS. The findings reveal a sharp attitudinal divide. Respondents overwhelmingly agree that liquor consumption harms the family (78.8 per cent agreement; mean 4.27 on a five-point scale) and a majority acknowledge its contribution to government revenue (59.2 per cent agreement), yet they reject the notion that drinking is a "life-style" (64.7 per cent disagreement). Perceived feasibility of a liquor card system is low overall (mean 4.09 on a ten-point scale), and a majority reject eligibility criteria based on income (57.1 per cent) or occupation (72.5 per cent). However, drinkers, the population the scheme would actually govern, are significantly more receptive than non-drinkers: they rate feasibility higher (5.81 vs 3.32; p < 0.001) and 58 per cent of them accept an income-linked card as against 16 per cent of non-drinkers. The paper argues that these results support a carefully designed, harm-reduction-oriented liquor card system combined with supervised retail outlets, provided eligibility is de-linked from intrusive income and occupation tests, and offers concrete design recommendations for government consideration.