Addiction is Not Price Sensitive

COMMENTARY - Earlier this year the Wall government attempted to discourage binge and problem drinking by social engineering using a crown corporation. Using their retail liquor monopoly at Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) outlets, they increased the price of 36 high alcohol beer, wine, ciders, and cooler products by as much as 40%. The idea is to discourage problem drinkers attracted to cheap booze by making it expensive.

This is nothing more than social control through economic control. Problem drinking is a medical issue- not an economic one- and the only way to deal with it appropriately is to invest more heavily in mental health programming.

The irony is that this is nothing more than gouging addicts living in poverty while claiming to 'help' them. People with genuine drinking problems aren’t going to spend less of what they have when the price of liquor goes up.

- Ryan Bater, Saskatchewan Liberal Leader