No doubt about it, alcohol consumption is controversial business.  Does it protect the heart or destroy the liver?  Wine OK but hard liquor a “no no”?  Abstinence better than moderation?  There’s one new finding about alcohol consumption that seems rather undisputed, in spite of so much controversy.  When alcohol costs more, fewer alcohol-related deaths occur.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded a study of alcohol-related deaths from 1976 to 2004 in Alaska, where the alcoholic beverage tax was raised in 1983 and again in 2002.  The study tracked only deaths caused by alcohol poisoning and chronic illness linked to alcohol abuse, not the number of deaths caused by alcohol-related acts of violence or automobile accidents.

After the 1983 tax increase, there were 23 fewer deaths each year and an additional 21 fewer deaths after the 2002 tax increase became effective.

Alaskan demographics and epidemiological trends mirror those of the United States in general, where about two-thirds of Americans, including Alaskans, who claim to indulge in alcoholic beverages.  This particular study, led by Dr. Alexander Wagenaar, focused on the alcohol tax effect in Alaska because its 2002 increase was more dramatic than any other state’s alcohol tax increases in recent years.  Wagenaar serves as professor of the Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research at the University of Florida.