We all know that there are more liquor stores and liquor ads in black neighborhoods with high crime, so a study recently conducted by University of Minnesota researchers that found this to be true wasn't a shock. This tidbit shouldn't have been a shock either, even though it was — the average price of a 40 ounce bottle of malt liquor was $1.87, which is less than a gallon of milk.

Malt liquor is a concern in inner cities because of its cheap price, high alcohol content, association with heavier drinking, and its link to aggressive behavior that can result in public safety issues, said Rhonda Jones-Webb, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Public Health and principal investigator of the study. The cheap price of malt liquor also makes it especially available to inner-city youth, she added.

The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Substance Use and Misuse.

“We wanted to know the extent to which the alcohol environment in African American neighborhoods — high concentration of alcohol outlets and high availability and promotion of malt liquor – contributes to high homicide rates in those communities,” Jones-Webb said.

Drugs have more to do with murders in these communities than malt liquor ever will, but it stands to reason that all of these negative factors contribute to the degradation of the neighborhood. And malt liquor is so nasty. That's probably beside the point.