APIS was developed to encourage and facilitate research on the effects and effectiveness of alcohol-related public policies in the United States. In June 2016, APIS expanded its scope to include Recreational Use of Cannabis policies. In March 2021, APIS added policies pertaining to Pregnancy and Drugs.

APIS is a project of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) that provides electronic user-searchable access to authoritative, detailed, and comparable longitudinal data and related information on selected alcohol, drug, and cannabis-related policies in the United States, at both State and Federal levels.

APIS is designed primarily for use by researchers. It will also be of interest to policy-makers, alcohol and drug prevention and treatment practitioners, and members of the general public.

APIS provides:

• In-depth comparisons of State and Federal policies on selected alcohol, drug, and cannabis-related topics (as of a particular date and/or over a period of time specified by the site user).
• Supplemental materials and resources useful to researchers and others interested in alcohol, drug, and cannabis policy.

APIS addresses the following alcohol-related policy areas:

• Alcoholic Beverage Control
• Transportation, Crime, and Public Safety
• Health Care Services and Financing
• Pregnancy and Alcohol
• Taxation and Pricing

These policy areas are described in the Alcohol Policy Taxonomy.

The Alcohol Policy Taxonomy (APT) provides an inventory and taxonomy of alcohol policies. It is organized into:

• Policy areas under nine broad categories.
• Cross-cutting dimensions, including: Demographic Groups; Beverage Types; Penalties, Liabilities, and Incentives; Special Jurisdictions; and Other Dimensions.

Researchers, especially those new to the alcohol policy field, can examine the APT to gain an appreciation of the nature and scope of alcohol policies and the specific issues these policies address.

APIS addresses the following policies pertaining to Pregnancy and Drugs:

• Civil Commitment
• Legal Significance for Child Abuse/Child Neglect
• Limitations on Criminal Prosecution
• Priority Treatment
• Reporting Requirements
• Warning Signs: Drugs During Pregnancy

These policy areas are described in the "Overview of Pregnancy and Drugs Policy Topics" section of the About This Policy page for each of the Pregnancy and Drugs policy topics.

APIS addresses the following cannabis-related policy areas:

• Cannabis Product Control
• Taxation, Fees and Pricing
• Advertising, Marketing and Mass Media
• Transportation, Crime, and Public Safety

These policy areas are described in the Cannabis Policy Taxonomy.

The Cannabis Policy Taxonomy (CPT) provides an inventory and taxonomy of cannabis policies. It is organized into nine broad areas.

The cannabis-related policy categories addressed on APIS are:

• Cannabis Product Control
• Taxation, Fees and Pricing
• Advertising, Marketing and Mass Media
• Transportation, Crime, and Public Safety

Researchers, especially those new to the cannabis policy field, can examine the CPT to gain an appreciation of the nature and scope of cannabis policies and the specific issues these policies address.

This section of the APIS website provides in-depth comparisons of State policies on selected alcohol, drug, and cannabis-related topics. The following information is provided for each policy topic:

• a brief narrative description;
• a list of definitions (if necessary);
• a summary of relevant Federal law (if any);
• tables comparing State policies on that topic (as of a particular date and/or over a period of time specified by the user);
• a brief explanation of variables used in creating these tables;
• notes explaining the limitations of the information provided;
• maps and charts;
• relevant statutory and regulatory citations; and
• references to selected Federal publications.

The tables present variables that reflect the state of the law in each jurisdiction based on an extensive search of statutes and regulations. The comparison tables also provide citations to the legal sources that support the coding of the variables. They also provide links to information on legal citation generally as well as to materials containing the text of statutes or regulations cited in the comparison tables.

All tables may be downloaded in a format suitable for many spreadsheet and statistical programs.

Except as specifically indicated, APIS does not provide information on:

• bills that are introduced but not enacted;
• regulations that are proposed but not adopted;
• local (county and municipal) policies;
• policies adopted by military or tribal authorities;
• decisions of State and Federal courts; or
• alcohol, drug, and cannabis use or related problems.

Updated information on policy topics which currently appear in the APIS Policy Topics section of the website will be added as legal research on these policies is completed. New policy topics will be posted to the APIS website as they are developed and as legal research on these topics is completed.

The materials on the APIS website come from a variety of sources. The text of Federal statutes and codified regulations has been obtained from www.govinfo.gov/, a service of the U.S. Government Publishing Office.

The materials in the NHTSA Alcohol-Highway Safety Digest Topics section of the website have been abstracted from the Digest of Alcohol-Highway Safety Related Information, Volume 5 to 21, published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. Department of Transportation.

All other materials contained on APIS (including descriptive text, legal citations, tables, charts and maps) have been prepared specifically for the website by APIS staff.

Citation of the source is appreciated.

Please use the following format to cite materials from APIS:

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Page title or description. Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) Website. Retrieved MM/DD/YEAR, from https://alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/ followed by the balance of the URL to link directly to material being cited.

You may find it helpful to begin by reading the About Alcohol Policy or About Cannabis Policy pages, as well as reviewing the descriptions of alcohol and cannabis-related policies in the Alcohol Policy Taxonomy and Cannabis Policy Taxonomy, respectively.

The complexities of State and Federal statutes and regulations make it impossible to characterize all State and Federal alcohol, drug, and cannabis policies with complete precision. Complicating factors may include but are not limited to:

• the existence of other, important variables not currently included in APIS;
• ambiguities in statutory and regulatory language;
• preemption of local options by State law or court decisions;
• the impact of case law and local laws and ordinances;
• the possible existence of statutes or regulations outside the body of alcohol and cannabis-related law that may affect the implementation of policies;
• the impact of administrative decisions which, while not codified in statutes or regulations, may affect the implementation of policies;
• the wide variety of alcoholic beverages (e.g., sake, vermouth, cider) that may be variously defined by different States or that may not be addressed in some or all jurisdictions;
• the wide variety of cannabis products (e.g. tinctures, edibles, and salves) that may be variously defined by different States or that may not be addressed in some or all jurisdictions;
• the existence of important extra-legal factors related to implementation, enforcement and compliance, and sanctions actually imposed (as opposed to mandated), that contribute to the effectiveness of a policy; and
• the policies and practices of private sector institutions (e.g., workplace or college policies) that may affect the alcohol or cannabis-related behavior of large segments of the population.

It is strongly recommended that APIS users review all Explanatory Notes and Limitations with care. Users should note that Explanatory Notes and Limitations may be revised over time in order to reflect changes in the policy environment over time. It is therefore recommended that APIS users consult the Explanatory Notes and Limitations on a regular basis to obtain the most current information.

Detailed instructions for using APIS are available on the Instructions tab associated with each APIS policy topic.

Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act requires that electronic and information technology developed or maintained by the Federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. APIS meets these requirements. Sight-impaired users may interact with the APIS website using standard screen-reader tools.

APIS does not provide such data. However, the Alcohol Epidemiologic Data Directory (published annually by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) contains descriptive and source information on a large number of data sets on alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. This directory can be viewed at http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/datasys.htm.

APIS was developed under contract for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The prime contractor is The CDM Group, Inc. (Contract No. HHSN275201800002C). Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation is a major subcontractor.  Gregory Bloss, M.A., M.P.P., Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research, NIAAA, is the Contracting Officer's Representative.

This website is updated from time to time to add new material, enhance functionality, and clarify or correct information already available on the site. A list of changes is available on the website Change Log page.