Americans smoke and drink less when the tax on cigarettes is higher

Smoking and drinking are two vices that tend to go hand in hand.

Not surprisingly, when the cost of one of those taboos goes up, people tend to engage in both of them less.

According to a study published on Wednesday in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, raising the tax on cigarettes lowers both smoking and drinking habits--except for wine.

The study concludes that wine drinkers tend have a healthier lifestyle than those who drink beer and spirits because wine drinkers don't smoke as much, The Daily Mail reports.

'The results made sense to us because prior research shows that wine drinkers are less likely to smoke,' said Melissa Krauss, a data analyst at the Washington University School of Medicine and one of the authors of the study.

NPR reports that Krauss and other researchers analyzed data from the U.S. between 1980 and 2009 and measured how much alcohol was consumed per state, per person, and then measured each state's cost of a pack of cigarettes in addition to their smoke-free air policies in public places.

In 1980 the median cost of a cigarette was just $1.76 per pack. In 2009 the median price of a cigarette went up to $5.68. Also through the years, the adoption of smoke free policies increased as alcohol consumption dropped.

NPR reports that states that had the highest tax increase per pack of cigarettes also had the largest drop in people drinking beers and spirits.

States with high cigarette taxes showed a 26 per cent drop in drinking. States with low cigarette price increases only showed a 5 per cent drop.

The researchers of the study suggested that a 20 per cent increase in cigarette price would cause a 2 per cent reduction per capita in drinking.

'We already know that strengthening tobacco policies has great benefit in reducing smoking prevalence,' says Krauss.

'This shows that there are unintended consequences that are having good public health benefits as well.'

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