Melissa Cribbins, candidate for commissioner, along with her husband Troy Cribbins and president-elect of the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, Brooke Walton and husband Paul Walton have formed a company to produce an organic potato vodka in Coos County. According to the Center for Disease Control alcohol related diseases cost $225 billion a year and is implicated in 85,000 American deaths annually. According to the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, “…health risks of drinking include increased incidence of cancers of the liver, esophagus, throat, and larynx (voice box), as well as liver cirrhosis, immune system problems, brain damage, and heart problems”. Despite all available information about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption, many people continue to abuse the drug just the same. Physical addiction to vodka can be reached faster, if abused, than other forms of alcohol like beer or wine.

The only reason for bringing this all up is because Cribbins recently received a $1,000 contribution from the Coalition for a Healthy Oregon PAC because, according to the PAC, she embraces “…the goals and objectives of the Coalition for a Healthy Oregon”. Somehow, the two, health and vodka, just don’t seem to go together