To begin with, raising the tax will bring in more money to the government from since demand is inelastic for cigarettes and people will keep on buying them. The extra amount of income could be used to help the well being of the country and to provide more public goods. Also, cigarettes are a demerit good, a good which is considered unhealthy or damaging in some and can be physically harmful to the consumer and other surrounding, so when price increases, demand will fall. Even if it is a small fall in demand, it is most likely to be for the young smokers to demand since they have less income than adults. If more young smokers quit, the healthier the next generations will be since smoking is a main reason behind a lot of health issues including lung
If the drinking age was lowered, they would legally be allowed to drink. Therefore, they can call a relative or adult to come get them without getting in trouble. This alone prevents accidents. Everything I have stated about lowering the drinking age has more pros than cons. Raising the drinking age seems to be creating more problems than resolutions.
Another way of reducing the potential harm to intravenous drug users is to provide medically controlled drugs as a substitute for street drugs. Drugs such as methadone are less harmful than street heroin, partly because they are free from impurities. An issue with the public health interventions I have discussed is that it may be too early to measure. It is still too early to see the full effect of the smoking ban as it was only introduced fairly recently, which could explain why there have been no significant changes in the number of smokers following the ban. As well as this, harm minimisation programmes are controversial because they appear to condone
Pepsi Co. keeps improving its products and make it more healthier and suitable for the customers. It has decreased the usage of sugar, fat and other unhealthy ingredients to make the products. These food items make not be the healthiest food out there, but it does satisfy the customer’s need with easy and is very convenient. The shareholders are also satisfied. Out of the total revenue, $10 billion comes from the healthy food section.
However, it was very successful socially. The intentions of Prohibition were not to make alcohol consumption illegal. After all, the consumption of alcohol itself was still very much legal. Prohibition was a success socially because it was able to lower alcohol consumption which in return helped reduce many of the country’s social problems. This law, a government “experiment” with very little ways of enforcement, succeeded in cutting down the consumption of this very popular drug by one-third.
Many argue that part of the appeal of underage drinking is the fact that you are not supposed to be doing it. This is a point that has been proven time and again with other things such as prohibition. Just because you make something illegal it does not mean that people are just going to stop doing it. One strong argument many people may have against the drinking age being 21 is that it is legal for people of the age of 18 to purchase tobacco products. Another product of having a higher age for drinking is that, often teens and young adults binge drink and aren’t used to having any sort of alcohol consumption and have too much at one time.
As you can see, the seriousness of alcoholism is by far worse than what most teenagers may think it is. Lowering the drinking age that the law requires in California will not make anything more useful. Drinking at a young age could be harmful towards you, your brain, and also to others. Permitting a minor to use alcohol will also increase the percentage
Vending machines, news stands, convenient stores, and grocery stores are also exempt from the list on the law. The passing of the law is just another way to make it seem that public health officials are making a change, when it will have a limited effect. This will not stop the common people from drinking sodas. People would simply take advantage of the complimentary refills to achieve their level of refreshment and hydration. Grocery and convenience store purchases are more likely to be sold then your average restaurant.
Although the demand of alcohol is relatively inelastic, the demand of a specific drink, pre-mixed alcohol is relatively elastic since consumers can simply find other alcohol drinks like rum-coke as a substitution. Q1Q2 amount of consumers who give up pre-mixed drinks will not just give up alcohol. Instead, they change to other kinds of alcohol drinks, which will still lead them to the negative consequences like hurting themselves after getting drunk. The tax on one specific kind of alcohol drink is then avoided by the teenagers. This is the reason why the alcohol-related visit to hospital doesn't really reduce even after the heavy tax.
Instead, an easier alternative would be to educate people on the dangers and results of eating unhealthily as well as ensuring the process of making processed foods cost more than the healthier alternatives such as fruit and 100% juice products. The fact that lots of the unhealthy food that the population consumes simply because it is affordable, is one of the main causes for the lack of public health. Government involvement shouldn’t be necessary, but if it is, a plan should be instituted that would allow healthier options to be cheaper than the unhealthier alternatives that are more common. Also, the FDA should take a deeper look into the long lasting affects of the chemicals found in common foods such as soda