'Funny' coincidence.Study ties Md. alcohol tax increase to decline in gonorrhea cases.
'Sexually transmitted diseases didn't factor heavily into the debate when state lawmakers approved an increase in the sales tax on alcohol four years ago. But research published Wednesday suggests a surprising consequence to the levy: thousands of fewer cases of gonorrhea.
Maryland recorded 7,400 cases of the bacterial infection in 2010, when alcohol, like other goods, was taxed at 6 percent. But two years later, with a 9 percent levy tacked on to booze sales, gonorrhea cases in the state dropped below 5,700, even as infection rates grew nationally.
Researchers at the University of Florida say they can only find one explanation: the alcohol tax.
"We know increasing alcohol taxes decreases alcohol consumption," said Stephanie Staras, the lead author of the study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. "We also know that people who are using alcohol are more likely to have risky sexual behavior."
The study is the first to examine the consequences of Maryland's increase to alcohol taxes.
Health advocates, saying it backs up their arguments for the tax as a tool to broadly improve public health, plan to use it in a push to add another $1 to the state's cigarette tax next year. Though one researcher acknowledged that the findings may seem like a stretch, they replicate evidence found linking alcohol taxes and STD rates in Illinois, Massachusetts and elsewhere.' >>>
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