take on the super big gulp

In my early twenties I would routinely fill up a 40 ounce thermos I
bought at 7-eleven which they would allow you to refill for a buck.   I
would literally go back to 7-eleven multiple times per day to refill it
and I honestly thought it was the greatest consumer item ever
invented, I was also 245 pounds.
I have made some lifestyle changes including more exercise but the
biggest singular item I cut out of my diet was soda.   I went from
downing 2 gallons of soda per day to having three cans per year so I
can attest to the health factors involved in less soda.

When the Bloomberg administration announced their intent to ban the
sale of large sugary drinks we had mixed feelings.   While we agree
that sugary drinks are definitely a major issue in fighting

obesity especially that in young kids but when it is done on the back
of personal freedom we get more than a bit discouraged with the
overzealous reach of government.
Granted this wasn't the original plan for Bloomberg whose first
attempt to dissuade the consumption by taxing soda died in the great
political wasteland known as Albany after the powerful soda lobby bit
their rotten teeth into it.    This is our first issue, every issue seems to have
some powerful lobbying arm out there yet for stuff I care about
(clean toilet seats) state government turns a blind eye.

Although the difference is probably just semantic, the idea of a
government dissuading behavior through taxation is very different than
prohibition and we have a much easier time swallowing the first than
the second.    I am much more comfortable paying a tax for certain
behavior which has an indirect effect on public health like taxes on
booze and smokes than I do the government outlawing behavior all

together (like week) which I might consider having no real public

merit but isn't particularly vile.

one thing is that everybody says that you can just buy two smaller sodas instead of one...
so maybe in this case it is the soda industry actually supporting this because you obviously
make a bunch more money selling two small sodas than one big one.