Alcohol Abuse Advice

Mother Against Drunk Driving(madd): is it Neo-prohibitionist?

“Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was founded in 1980 by Candy Lightner, whose daughter was tragically killed by a drunk driver who was a repeat offender. The goal of MADD was to reduce drunk driving traffic fatalities and the organization has been highly effective in raising public disapproval of drunk driving. The proportion of traffic fatalities that are alcohol-related has dropped dramatically, in part because of MADD’s good efforts. MADD is a single-issue non-profit anti-drunk driving organization in the United States and with a branch in Canada (see MADD Canada). MADD is based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex suburb of Irving, Texas.

MADD’s Goal: Is it Neo-Prohibitionist?

Mothers Against Drunk Driving stigmatizes light or moderate alcohol consumption, even when it isn’t associated with either being underage or driving. For example:

1. MADD sells a graphic showing two empty glasses of alcohol surrounded by the words assault, drowning, burns, rape and suicide.

2. MADD sells a graphic that equates beer with heroin by depicting a beer bottle as a drug syringe.

3. MADD sells a television ad insisting that “”if you think there’s a difference”” between heroin and alcohol, “”you’re dead wrong.””

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has clearly become not simply anti-drunk driving or even anti-impaired driving, but anti-alcohol. MADD’s temperance orientation expresses itself in many ways, as seen in Is MADD Neo-Prohibitionist?

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) began with the admirable goal of reducing drunk driving traffic fatalities by educating the nation about the devastation caused by drunk drivers. For the first 15 years, this strategy paid off: MADD’s public relations campaigns played a key role in changing the nation’s attitude about drunk driving, resulting in a huge drop-off in drunk driving deaths. MADD was so successful that it reached its goal for 2000 (to reduce alcohol-related deaths by 20%) in 1997.

MADD’s campaign to make adult beverages more expensive through drastically increased taxes is another major tactic in their war on responsible drinking. MADD says these tax hikes are a way to reduce underage drinking — but lacks real evidence that taxes are more likely to reduce underage drinking than moderate consumption by responsible adults.

MADD founder Candy Lightner has broken ties with the group. In 2002, she told the Washington Times, “[MADD] has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned … I didn’t start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving.”

In the 1980s, MADD had success in helping change public attitudes and laws regarding driving under the influence (DUI). Since 1980 (the year Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded), alcohol-related traffic fatalities have decreased by about 44 percent, from over 30,000 to under 17,000 and MADD has helped save over 300,000 lives.

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