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defrost 2 days ago

These aren't great "well formed" questions, maybe work on sharpening them up.

> I mean I have never consumed and never will so why is it that your society finds it acceptable?

Well, there are many societies across the planet and as a general rule their behaviours and norms are not predicated upon your personal choices and decisions.

eg: Australian society is largely indifferent to the fact that my father, a decorated service veteran, is and has been a lifelong teetotaller for 90 years.

> Isn't tobacco usage going down in consumption because it is being taxed shit out of?

Yes / no / not really - it's more complex than that. The Australian experience is that public health education policy promoting health, the downsides of tobacco, and requiring cigarette packs to display graphic images of diseased organs coupled with increased tobacco consumption taxes worked together to reduce tobacco use ... But ..

eventually, as tobacco taxes continued to increase (probably a bad idea IMHO) the incentives for criminal sidestepping and black market tobacco increased and Australia now has a new class of criminals that are considerably more violent than before. Hand in hand with that vaping has somehow sidestepped being associated with ciggies, and younger people are back to seeing these 'forbidden' things as desirable.

> Why can't you voluntarily try to influence your alcohol consumption by paying a "alcohol tax"?

Assuming by "you" you mean a country influencing it's population, I guess?

There are alcohol taxes in many countries, also penalties for drink driving, business restrictions on being drunk at work, etc.

Australians as a whole consume less alcohol than many non Australians imagine - sure there are people that drink a lot, but not as many (per capita) as once were, nor as much volume wise per person as they used to, and they do enjoy playing up myths about Australia.