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Forget the alcopop, make mine a double vodka.

Three months ago, the government raised the tax on alcopops by 70 percent in a bid to reduce the amount being drunk by teens and young people – to whom the drinks are marketed.

Was this a good idea? Maybe not. In the past three months, 21 million more standard drinks of spirits have been sold. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to work out that if you make one type of drink more expensive, people will simply switch to a cheaper one.

According to reports today:

Sales
of straight spirits jumped 46 per cent against a drop in RTD sales of
30 per cent in June, according to the Liquor Merchants Association of
Australia data.

When I was in my teens and I wanted to get drunk, I’d drink whatever was availabe. West Coast Coolers or UDLs were great because they tasted nice but if we couldn’t get hold of those, we’d drink kahlua and milk, vodka and orange or light spirits straight from a hip flask.

If a teen wants to have a drink, will hiking the price of the most palatable option really divert them? Or will they just (as the liquor industry claims) switch to something cheaper and with a potentially higher alcohol content like straight spirits? Or worse, as opposition health spokesman Joe Hockey claims "buy a $5 pill" instead?