Raising alcohol prices curb drinking, deaths, healthcare costs

[Medscape Medical News, March 24, 2010] Policies that raise the price of alcohol can reduce consumption, illness, and premature deaths in drinkers and reduce the burden on healthcare systems, according to an article published online March 24 in The Lancet.

Mark Willenbring, MD, an addiction psychiatrist at Allina Mental Health Clinic in St. Paul, Minnesota, and past director of the Division of Treatment and Recovery Research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, was not at all surprised by the new findings. "We've known this for decades," he told Medscape Psychiatry. Read the full story at medscape.com (free registration required).