Researchers targeting online alcohol sales

RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Two University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill researchers say they will be using students to determine how easy it is to purchase alcohol online.

Researchers Rebecca Williams and Kurt Ribisl will use a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant of $400,000 to how easy it is for students ages 18 to 20 to buy alcohol on the Internet, The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer reported Monday.

The study will focus on up to 100 Web sites that sell alcohol online and will determine what measures such sites take to ensure their customers are of legal drinking age.

Williams said earlier research she conducted with Ribisl regarding online cigarette sales to minors was vital in implementing stricter sales methods for online tobacco sales.

She told The News & Observer that success prompted the duo to focus on the lesser known world of online alcohol sales.

"Most people that you talk to about it are shocked when you say you can buy alcohol online," the project director for the university's Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention said.

"From what we've seen with cigarette sites, the controls are definitely not very strong."