LOCAL ALCOHOL POLICY INFORMATION SYSTEM (LAPIS)

Mayatech Corporation, Silver Spring MD

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this project is to develop a Local Alcohol Policy Information System (LAPIS) comprised of alcohol-related policies (e.g., laws, ordinances, codes) that will be collected from local governments throughout the United States. Currently, there is no central or comprehensive source of local-level alcohol policy information. The information collected will be information that already is in the public domain. Policy information combined with basic community descriptive information will be managed as a database and will be able to be linked with other community-based data sets. Ultimately, subscription-based products and services will be made available to federal public health agencies, the substance abuse research community, state and local government officials, national associations, and other interested parties. The Phase I project will develop and test methodologies for collecting, preparing, and analyzing alcohol policy information. Specifically, the project will establish processes for: (l) obtaining structured alcohol policy information from local governments, (2) preparing the information in a consistent, reliable, and adaptable format, (3) developing a central database to serve as the core of the information system, and (4) defining and creating products and services that optimally meet the needs of the target markets. Both an internal and external evaluation will be conducted to assess the feasibility of the Phase I LAPIS project. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Currently, there is no central source of local alcohol policy information. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation each have expressed an interest in being able to identify and monitor alcohol-related policy actions at the community-level. In addition, results from a spring 1998 MayaTech telephone survey of state alcoholic beverage control officials and state alcohol and drug abuse directors revealed that such officials would be interested in subscribing to a service, such as the proposed LAPIS, to enable them to monitor policy actions in their own state, and elsewhere.