This Wall Street Journal reports in this story (A Toast to Your Health) that new USDA dietary guidelines confirm that drinking in moderation is good for you. Of course, this is not news to wine lovers and readers of this site. However, it does have significant public policy ramifications and puts the lie to some of the alarmist claims made recently that government should raise liquor prices or prevent privatization. As the Wall Street Journal article points out, many Americans should actually be drinking a bit more in order to get the health benefits associated with moderate consumption. It\’s not rocket science to figure out that the smart public policy choice is to make sure that restrictions on alcohol specifically target people with problem consumption and not penalize those who drink responsibly and get recognized health benefits from doing so.
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