APIS was developed as a tool to support research on the effects and effectiveness of alcohol-related public policies. Policy topics covered in APIS were chosen on the basis of several considerations, including public health significance, the salience of the research area, and the feasibility of legal research on State-level statutes and regulations to discern valid and meaningful policy characteristics and differences, both across jurisdictions and over time. Policies established at local (i.e., county and municipal) levels of government and policies established by case law are outside the scope of APIS. As a result, policies that vary substantially in these dimensions (for instance, restrictions on the days and hours of legal sale, which varies at the local level, and dram-shop liability, which is established in many States only through case law) are not covered within APIS.
