GOSHEN -- A study from the International Institute for Alcohol Awareness shows underage drinking costs Indiana taxpayers more than $1 billion every year, and some say a loophole in a state law is making the problem worse. That's why Goshen city leaders have decided to take matters into their own hands.

Tuesday night, Goshen's Common Council unanimously passed a resolution aimed at pushing state lawmakers to more closely regulate who can legally sell alcohol. If they don't, some worry the number of convenience stores that will sell it could more than triple over the next two years.

"You have many, many stores that are doing a very small volume of groceries, that now wish to call themselves a grocery store, when in fact, their primary trade may be in gasoline," said Jim Killen, an Indianapolis-based advocate for Project RAD: Responsible Alcohol Distribution.

And there's a simple reason why.

Grocery stores can legally sell alcohol in Indiana, but there's no clear definition under state law of exactly what a grocery store is, and over the last two years, Killen says permit applications for over the counter alcohol sales from "grocery stores" have increased across the state by 230 percent.

The Speedway on Lincoln Avenue is only one of a handful of gas stations in Michiana included in that list, and the only one in Goshen.

Workers there say their sales philosophy on alcohol is simple.

"We have to see a valid I.D.," said clerk Melanie Gibson. "If it's expired, we don't sell. We card everybody."

But at Tuesday night's meeting, some said that's not the problem.

"Shoplifting is 80 percent of those cases that we get for first time offenders," said Family Services of Elkhart County Youth Services Bureau Director Cyneatha Millsaps. "It's one thing to steal a T-shirt. It's another thing to steal alcohol."

And peer pressure plays a role, too.

Killen says convenience store clerks don't have to be 21 to sell alcohol, and all it takes is one to look the other way while their friends walk out the door.

"A friend that's working in a convenience store is more likely to let another friend buy alcohol underage for the peer pressure alone," said Millsaps. "And that's even if they know it's the wrong thing to do."

That's why Goshen is joining other cities in passing a resolution asking the state's alcoholic beverage commission to ban the sale of alcohol in convenience stores.

Killen says that list now includes the state's largest cities, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Gary. South Bend's Common Council passed a similar resolution in 2005.

"If we don't act on this soon, we will likely see a doubling -- if not a tripling -- of the vendors throughout the state that sell alcohol," Killen said.

A bill aimed at more clearly defining the definition of a grocery store, and putting tighter restrictions on where alcohol can be sold, and who can sell it failed in an Indiana Senate committee last year by a 26-22 vote. But Killen says he's hopeful lawmakers will reconsider it during their upcoming spring legislative session.