Originally Posted by ratbastid

Yeah, matter of fact, it has.

Here's a fact sheet from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids that says, among other things, that adult smoking in Washinton State declined from 22.6% to 19.7% in the year after a 60-cent tax increase was put into effect, reducing the number of smokers in the state by over 100,000, despite the over population increasing. That's just one example out of LOTS in this (very well-done) fact sheet. An internal RJ Reynolds study said that if cigarette prices were 10% higher, the number of 12-17 year-olds who start smoking would be down by 11.9%.

It's a good analogy: America has an addiction. Put our drug out of economic reach, and usage will drop.