As someone who has spent a significant amount of time directly with the dependency side of it, I can tell you that no one ever goes to an AA meeting and says it was the cheap price of liquor that turned them into being an alcoholic.

The primary factors for alcohol problems are as follows:

1. Genetics. Having parents/grandparents who were alcoholics greatly increases your risk.
   
2. History of abuse or trauma. People who suffered abuse are more likely to be alcoholics.
   
3. Early drinking. The younger you start the more likely you will have a problem.
   
4. Depression. Regardless of the source of your depression (be it neurochemical or environmental), depressed people are more likely to drink.
   

And that's really it. I've heard hundreds of stories and they all begin with at least 1 of the 4 items above. The reality is that if liquor prices increase, alcoholics simply turn to cheaper booze. Instead of a bottle of wine they go for the Dubra vodka. If anything, high alcohol prices leads towards harder liquors in this regard. Once a person is hooked on hard liquor, it really doesn't go in reverse if the price of alcohol drops. Meaning they don't go back to fine wine and beer as the market adjusts.

You can go to an AA meeting for yourself and see that this is the truth. So it pretty much blows any economic speculation about alcohol prices affecting dependency out of the water.