Never mind that anyone under 21 cannot legally buy beer. Proponents of Proposition 10, the California initiative that added a 50-cent tax per pack of cigarettes, claimed that higher prices reduce smoking. Of course, evidence suggests that smokers may simply purchase cigarettes tax-free on the Internet, or travel to adjacent states or to Mexico to purchase them cheaply. For its beer tax study, the CDC apparently targeted gonorrhea because long-term statistics are available, and thus easier to research. Obviously, the folks wearing the white coats down at the CDC lack imagination.
Many strategies remain untried.
Frequently young people inadvertently consume alcohol, given the ease with which one can pop open a tab. Tipping the glass at a 45-degree angle triggers the airbag inflation, placing a buffer between the beer mug and the drinker's mug. Bartenders could place a standard form on the counter, requiring those ordering beer to fill it out and return 10 days later in exchange for their brew. The woman began smoking after cigarette warning labels, but complained that cigarette companies concealed the true danger of smoking from the public. Given today's atmosphere, the next time some guy gets liquored-up and engages in an unplanned act of intimacy with a woman, beer manufacturers should feel edgy.