Raise those taxes

Apparently making booze more expensive makes people drink and die less.

"...increasing alcohol taxes is associated with reduced overall consumption of alcohol as well as reduced heavy drinking. This new study shows that increasing taxes on alcohol also influences the death rate from liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, gastric diseases, some cancers, and cardiovascular diseases caused by heavy alcohol use."

I know they've done the same with cigarettes. People always say, "If it gets about X dollars a pack, I'll quit." I know in NY and Chicago it's about $10 a pack. I wonder if that significantly reduced the amount of smokers, or the amount people smoke. Cities are also banning cigarettes in a lot of places to keep people from smoking. I know here, you can't smoke most places, and they're trying to ban smoking in apartment buildings.

So raising taxes on booze may create that same effect. Now let's see if that kind of thing can pass the politician test.