International researchers have found a strong link between cigarette taxation, reduction of smoking rates in the population and a decrease in alcohol consumption among some vulnerable groups.

A small glimpse of an upcoming publication has been posted online showing precursory links between smoking laws, rates and the abuse of alcohol.

Sherry McKee, associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and one of the study's authors explained, saying “Tobacco can enhance the subjective effects of alcohol and has been shown to increase the risk for heavy and problematic drinking. Smokers drink more frequently and more heavily than non-smokers, and are substantially more likely than non-smokers to meet criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence. The co-occurrence of smoking and drinking is of particular clinical significance given evidence that health consequences exponentially increase with combined versus singular abuse of alcohol and tobacco.”

"Smoking and drinking are strongly linked for a host of reasons including complementary pharmacologic effects, shared neuronal pathways, shared genetic associations, common environmental factors, and learned associations," added Christopher W. Kahler, professor and chair of the department of behavioural and social sciences at Brown School of Public Health. "However, it is possible to intervene through behavioural treatments, pharmacotherapy, and policy to affect both behaviours in a positive way."

Data was gathered from a range of previous studies as well as new surveys, including interviews with 21,473 alcohol consumers as part of the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a survey conducted by the United States' National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The research may be timely for the smoking tax discussion in Australia, with economic plans announced in the run-up to the federal election including a increase of the tax on tobacco. The team behind the study say it is not just a casual link, according to their survey the US scientists have found a series of beneficial flow-on effects in addition to raised revenue.

“These findings suggest that if states increase taxes on cigarettes, they are not only likely to reduce smoking -- based on a large body of literature -- but they also may have a modest impact on heavy drinking rates among men, those with lower income, and those who drink most heavily,” said Kahler. “In other words, policies that target one specific health behaviour may have broader benefits to public health by affecting additional health behaviours that tend to co-occur with the targeted health behaviour.”

The report is scheduled to be published in the January 2014 edition of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, but an early-viewing summary is now available.