Tobacco and alcohol are a troublesome pairing. Since smoking enhances the addictive effects of alcohol – and vice versa – people tend to drink and smoke more when these drugs are used together. But new research suggests that it may be possible to exploit the link between tobacco and alcohol to reduce their use.
A Stanford-led team of researchers found that increases in tobacco taxes were associated with lower alcohol consumption among certain groups of people. This finding suggests that an increased tobacco tax may simultaneously reduce smoking and alcohol consumption.
I corresponded with the study’s lead author, Stanford postdoctoral student Kelly Young-Wolff, PhD, to find out more about the recently published study and how the findings might be applied to efforts to control cigarette and alcohol use.
“Cigarette taxes have broad population reach and have been recognized as one of the most significant policy instruments to reduce smoking,” Young-Wolff told me. “Given the high co-occurrence of drinking and smoking, we hypothesized that the public health benefits of cigarette taxes would extend beyond smoking to reduce alcohol consumption.”
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