Booze Worse Than Smokes

[countmeout]

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/249756/Booze-worse-than-smokes

Not even trying to hide the extra cost of alcoholic beverages due to taxes. Stating we need to price people out of being able to drink because it could lead to some people drinking too much. When did free country loose it's meaning and the government start to police and micro manage everything?! Calling for higher prices to save us from ourselves? Just let us live and if we choose to drink so be it. I guess this is the ugly side of public healthcare; we have to watch what everyone is doing to ensure some don't cause self inflicted harm which costs us all more?

[OKkayak]

Oh yay! Another "study"

[pieinthei]

Oh yay! Another "study"

exactly!

[youjustcomplain]

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/249756/Booze-worse-than-smokes

Not even trying to hide the extra cost of alcoholic beverages due to taxes. Stating we need to price people out of being able to drink because it could lead to some people drinking too much. When did free country loose it's meaning and the government start to police and micro manage everything?! Calling for higher prices to save us from ourselves? Just let us live and if we choose to drink so be it. I guess this is the ugly side of public healthcare; we have to watch what everyone is doing to ensure some don't cause self inflicted harm which costs us all more?

Well, as long as our healthcare is paid for by our taxes, I would prefer to see nobody smoking or drinking or using any substances that will contribute to the ballooning health care costs. (that said, I do drink, but not all that much).
If we were responsible for our own health care costs or had to pay for private health insurance, then I'd totally agree with you. Drink and smoke as much as you want. It's only you and your health insurance who pay for it, but if you take up a life of boozing and smoking, you cost the rest of us.

I'm all for taxing the things that lead to health care costs.

[LTD]

I pay taxes therefore I am responsible for my healthcare costs

[OKkayak]

Well, as long as our healthcare is paid for by our taxes, I would prefer to see nobody smoking or drinking or using any substances that will contribute to the ballooning health care costs.

Where would you draw the line? Alcohol, tobacco, sugar, fat, fast food, chocolate? What about activities that can balloon costs?

[youjustcomplain]

Well, as long as our healthcare is paid for by our taxes, I would prefer to see nobody smoking or drinking or using any substances that will contribute to the ballooning health care costs.

Where would you draw the line? Alcohol, tobacco, sugar, fat, fast food, chocolate? What about activities that can balloon costs?

Oh and it's a fair point. That's why I specified substances, which I guess food is a substance. I was referring to drugs in general though, alcohol included. Besides, the tax model on cigarettes and alcohol is very different than the simple gst/pst we pay on our junk food.

[youjustcomplain]

I pay taxes therefore I am responsible for my healthcare costs

That's one way to look at it. Look at the cost of all the health complications that come with heavy smoking or drinking. Your taxes alone don't cover the lifelong costs of someone with serious chronic and acute health issues.

Think of it this way. If every single BC citizen was a heavy smoker with serious respiratory conditions do you think your taxes would cover those costs?

Don't get me wrong. I don't want more government interference in our right to make bad decisions, outside of taxation. If you want to partake in drinking and smoking, then you better be prepared to prepay for the health costs that you will cost everyone else, though the taxes you pay when you buy the product.

[OKkayak]

Oh and it's a fair point. That's why I specified substances, which I guess food is a substance. I was referring to drugs in general though, alcohol included. Besides, the tax model on cigarettes and alcohol is very different than the simple gst/pst we pay on our junk food.

Coffee is drug

As far as alcohol goes, based on human's consumption throughout history, and countries where alcohol is not a "taboo" as it treated here, no "study" will convince me that normal, responsible moderation (a glass of wine with dinner, beer with a burger, etc.) will have any significant negative health effects on the average, healthy person.

[countmeout]

As far as alcohol goes, based on human's consumption throughout history, and countries where alcohol is not a "taboo" as it treated here, no "study" will convince me that normal, responsible moderation (a glass of wine with dinner, beer with a burger, etc.) will have any significant negative health effects on the average, healthy person.

Exactly
Yet we will still have to pay the extra taxes because the government loves to tax the crap out of things we cannot live without (gas, homes, etc) and things we enjoy through a minor addiction (smokes, pot, beer, wine).

This is just all someone's opinion. If fast food was taxed up the wazoo and booze had no tax, I'd be a happy camper and wouldn't complain as I don't consume fast food. I however do enjoy beer, maybe a little over the recommended but it's easy to get carried away on a Friday and have 4-5. Seems I'm targeted and people who choose to eat food which leads to diabetes are all ok. Could this possibly be because the pharmaceutical companies make money on diabetes meds but not alcohol treatment?

There's another thread I read earlier on lab meat. I just hope that in the future that anything "bad" for you isn't taxed so high that only the highest of society can afford it and the rest of us eat lentils, bugs and potatoes.

[LTD]

if we can afford to pay politicians outrageous pensions put crackheads in free housing and flat out waste various amounts of our tax dollars then we can afford any health care incurred by someone who has a few drinks, i dont care if someone drinks everyday the way things are heading these days you almost have to just to stay sane

[36Drew]

If you want to partake in drinking and smoking, then you better be prepared to prepay for the health costs that you will cost everyone else, though the taxes you pay when you buy the product.

How about taxing the crap out of junk food, then? Heart disease is the second leading cause of deaths in Canada. It claimed 51,000 lives in 2016. By comparison, liver disease only claimed just shy of 4,300 lives in 2016. (Sources: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-q ... im-eng.htm)

I don't condone smoking nor abuse of alcohol - but tobacco is already taxed heavily and use is steadily declining. The number of smokers who've quit is at a record high (over 2/3), and uptake has steadily decreased. Prevalence of smokers today is about half of what it was in 1999. (Source: https://uwaterloo.ca/tobacco-use-canada ... inal_0.pdf).

This is probably due to a combination of increased anti-smoking sentiment in society, taxes, education, and support of smoking cessation programs by our health system. There is a direct correlation between smoking and cancer, and that message has been hammered home to our youth.

The same direct correlation between alcohol and liver disease doesn't exist for casual or moderate use. A glass of wine or a beer a day isn't going to cause any damage - your liver can process that with relative ease. There's even some health benefits to drinking red wine. Alcohol is also taxed, and even more tightly controlled than tobacco sales.

Suffice to say, alcohol can be - and indeed is - abused by some of our society. We don't have a strong education program around alcohol abuse, nor are there any real substance-abuse programs run by the health authorities to deal with alcohol. Sure, AA exists - but it's a pseudoscientific and religion-based program that has exactly the same success rate as an individual that wishes to quit cold-turkey on their own. 5-10% depending on regionality and support network. People abuse alcohol, generally, for the very same reasons that people abuse narcotics. Mental health and the ability to cope (or lack thereof).

Increasing taxes isn't going to fix that.

[capleton]

Booze and smokes are worst then pot.