Bi-Partisan Support For Beer-Tax Increase

Will a proposed beer-tax increase fund the state's substance abuse prevention and treatment?

That's the early word in Charleston, where there's bipartisan support for a 1 cent or 2 cent per bottle or can rise in the beer tax, according to The Charleston Gazette. A similar bill failed last year.

But sponsors, including Delegate Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur County, say that the additional $10 million raised would help fight the state's drug problem. Hamilton's 30-something-year-old son has faced substance abuse issues and said that it's too big a problem to not address.

"There's one thing about getting rid of a drug dealer," Hamilton told the Gazette. "When you get rid of one -- you take them off the corner of Buckhannon or Parkersburg or Huntington -- you've got another one. ... Let's take away their customers."

The Register-Herald of Beckley, WV, quoted Delegate Barbara Hatfield, D-Kanawha, as saying that she'd support the bill.

"We have children, we have teen-agers, ruining their lives by being on drugs," Hatfield said.