From the Sun-Times Opinion Page, Penned by Ram Raju, M.D.

Taxes on tobacco and alcohol are powerful interventions that reduce illness, suffering and health-care costs. Both tobacco and alcohol consumption are sensitive to price; higher prices reduce consumption, and with tobacco, can promote cessation.

When tobacco and alcohol cost more, fewer young people will initiate use, and when they do drink alcohol, they drink less.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s 2012 budget proposal requests commonsense tobacco and alcohol tax adjustments. The president’s proposal extends the existing county tobacco tax to cigars and loose and smokeless tobacco, closing a loophole. The alcohol tax will be restored to 1995 levels relative to the price of alcoholic beverages.

Tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption are the No. 1 and No. 3 causes, respectively, of preventable death in the United States, together accounting for more than one in five deaths.

Tobacco and excessive alcohol use harm every major organ system, impairing the well-being of many thousands in Cook County. There are also tremendous social costs from tobacco and excessive alcohol use due to lost productivity, increased need for health care, accidents and crime.

Tobacco and excessive alcohol cost the U.S. economy over $420 billion annually, translating into $7 billion for Cook County. A large proportion of these social costs are borne by governments, such as Cook County, through health-care delivery and criminal justice and public safety systems.

Strengthening our local tax policy, as Preckwinkle proposes, is an important element of public health practices to prevent illnesses, injuries and social costs from tobacco and excessive alcohol.

Ram Raju, M.D.,

and four other emergency medical staff doctors,

Cook County Health
and Hospital System