Cheap Cigarettes Research Articles

‘No-one actually goes to a shop and buys them do they?’: attitudes and behaviours regarding illicit tobacco in a multiply disadvantaged community in England

To explore attitudes towards, and experience of, illicit tobacco usage in a disadvantaged community against a backdrop of austerity and declining national trends in illicit tobacco use. Qualitative study using 10 focus groups. Multiply disadvantaged community in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Fifty-eight smokers, ex- and non-smokers aged 15-60 years. Focus group topic guides. There was high awareness and use of illegal tobacco sources, with 'fag houses' (individuals selling cigarettes from their own homes) being particularly widespread. Rather than being regarded as marginal behaviour, buying illicit tobacco was perceived as commonplace, even where products were known to be counterfeit. Smokers' willingness to smoke inferior 'nasty' counterfeit products may be testament to their need for cheap nicotine. Illicit tobacco was seen to be of mutual benefit to both user (because of its low cost) and seller (because it provided income and support for the local economy). Illicit tobacco sellers were generally condoned, in contrast with the government, which was blamed for unfair tobacco taxation, attitudes possibly heightened by the recession. Easy access to illicit tobacco was seen to facilitate and sustain smoking, with the main concern being around underage smokers who were perceived to be able to buy cheap cigarettes without challenge. National strategies to reduce illicit tobacco may have limited impact in communities during a recession and where illicit trade is part of the local culture and economy. There may be potential to influence illicit tobacco use by building on the ambivalence and unease expressed around selling to children.

Because you're worth it!

PurposeThis paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.FindingsAnyone who visited Japan in the 1980s or 1990s will tell you the shock they felt when they saw the peculiar site of a huge US or European star putting their name to something as mundane as cheap cigarettes or a brand of soda. In the pre‐internet era, it was all too easy for the likes of Harrison Ford to earn serious money by lending their name and image to a brand and product unknown outside of Eastern Asia without it affecting their popularity in home markets.Practical implicationsThe paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

Prevalence and correlates of purchasing contraband cigarettes on First Nations reserves in Ontario, Canada

Non-First Nations people purchasing cigarettes on First Nations reserves do not pay applicable taxes. We estimated prevalence and identified correlates of purchasing contraband cigarettes on reserves; we also quantified the share of contraband purchased on reserves relative to reported total cigarette consumption and the associated financial impact on taxation revenue. Data from the Ontario Tobacco Survey, a regionally stratified representative population telephone survey that over-samples smokers. Ontario, Canada. A total of 1382 adult current smokers. Reported status of purchasing cigarettes on reserves and the quantity of cigarettes bought on reserves. The prevalence of purchasing cigarettes on reserves was assessed with descriptive statistics. A two-part model was used to analyse correlates of having recently purchased contraband. A total of 25.8% reported recent purchasing and 11.5% reported usual purchasing. Heavy smoking, having no plans to quit and lower education were correlated with recent purchasing. Heavy smoking and not having plans to quit were also correlated with buying more packs of cigarettes on reserves. Contraband purchases on reserves accounted for 14.0% of the reported total cigarette consumption and resulted in an estimated tax loss of $122.2 million. There was substantial purchasing of contraband cigarettes on reserves in Ontario, resulting in significant losses in tax revenues. The availability of these cheap cigarettes undermines the effectiveness of tobacco taxation to reduce smoking. Wherever indicated, governments should strengthen their contraband prevention and control measures, as recommended by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to ensure that tobacco taxation achieves its intended health benefits and that tax revenues are protected.

Prevalence and correlates of roll-your-own smoking in Thailand and Malaysia: Findings of the ITC-South East Asia Survey

Roll-your-own (RYO) cigarette use has been subject to relatively limited research, particularly in developing countries. This paper seeks to describe RYO use in Thailand and Malaysia and relate RYO use to smokers' knowledge of the harmfulness of tobacco. Data come from face-to-face surveys with 4,004 adult smokers from Malaysia (N = 2,004) and Thailand (N = 2000), collected between January and March 2005. The prevalence of any use of RYO cigarettes varied greatly between Malaysia (17%) and Thailand (58%). In both countries, any RYO use was associated with living in rural areas, older average age, lower level of education, male gender, not being in paid work, slightly lower consumption of cigarettes, higher social acceptability of smoking, and positive attitudes toward tobacco regulation. Among RYO users, exclusive use of RYO cigarettes (compared with mixed use) was associated with older age, female gender (relatively), thinking about the enjoyment of smoking, and not making a special effort to buy cheaper cigarettes if the price goes up. Finally, exclusive RYO smokers were less aware of health warnings (RYO tobacco carries no health warnings), but even so, knowledge of the health effects of tobacco was equivalent.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF AN ILLICIT CIGARETTE MARKET: A STUDY OF PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS IN TORONTO, ONTARIO

Tobacco taxation is a key mechanism for reducing smoking consumption and prevalence in the general population. Few studies, however, have acknowledged the disproportionately heavy tobacco tax burden placed upon some groups—usually poor, marginalized populations—in the drive for population-based public health goals.1 Shelley et al.2 recently examined the relations between a large tax increase in New York State and the development of a pervasive, illicit cigarette market in a low-income minority community and described the financial burden of smoking among the poor who had not quit. Our letter extends these qualitative findings in 2 ways: by examining similar issues in a different marginalized, low-income population—psychiatric patients in one of Canada’s largest psychiatric hospitals—and by quantifying the relative magnitude of illicit cigarette consumption in this population. Approximately 60% to 80% of people with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses smoke cigarettes3,4—a rate of roughly 4 times higher than that of the general population in Canada.5 Smoking plays an important role in the significantly higher rates of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality found among people with severe mental illnesses, and coronary heart disease screening and smoking-cessation programs are much needed for this population.6 Our study involved the collection of cigarette butts from 3 sites in Toronto, Ontario: a 436-bed inpatient psychiatric hospital (where 70–75% of the patients have a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia), an addiction and mental health research and outpatient facility, and a large general hospital. In addition, a garbage audit was performed at the inpatient psychiatric facility to extract cigarette packages from 1 week’s worth of garbage. The collected cigarette butts were then sorted according to their filter-tip logos. In Ontario, an unbranded cigarette filter almost always indicates an illicit brand. The inpatient psychiatric hospital had a dramatically higher rate of “unbranded” cigarette butts: 54% versus 16% at the research facility and 6% at the general hospital site (Figure 1 ▶). The garbage audit resulted in the extraction of 320 cigarette packages. Approximately 80% of the packages were from illicit tobacco brands—a rate dramatically higher than that found in a recent, city-wide garbage audit in Toronto.7 FIGURE 1— Patterns of branding on cigarette butts collected at an inpatient psychiatric hospital (n = 1288 butts), an addiction and mental health research and outpatient treatment facility (n = 1271 butts), and a general hospital (n = 1784 butts). Similar to the findings of Shelley et al., our study demonstrated that cigarette taxation policies appear to place a disproportionate burden on some marginalized groups. As a result, it is important to assess and ensure principles of taxation equity for such populations,8 especially given that higher cigarette prices may paradoxically increase the availability of cheap (but illicit) cigarettes and undermine smoking-related interventions.

Death at a discount: how the tobacco industry thwarted tobacco control policies in US military commissaries

Background: The US military is perhaps the only retailer consistently losing money on tobacco. Military stores (commissaries and exchanges) have long sold discount-priced cigarettes, while the Department of Defense (DoD)...

La conquête des lieux non-fumeur se heurte aux tactiques de l'industrie du tabac : désinformation scientifique et groupes de front. L'expérience canadienne

"Cigarette smuggling: a wide scope phenomenon only there to serve the interests of big tobacco manuafacturers" uses industry officials' quotes and documents to describe how tobacco manufacturers are involved in the organisation of smuggling and how manufacturers use smuggling in two ways: on one hand, to flood markets with cheap cigarettes and defeat governements' efforts to reduce tobacco consumption by adopting one of the most efficient public health measures (ie: high taxation of tobacco products) and on the other hand, by using the false threat of increased contraband to scare politicians and prevent them from adopting strong fiscal policies. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) with a protocol on smuggling and the collaboration between international agencies is a means to counter and defeat the tobacco industry attemps at sabotaging efficient public health measures.

La contrebande de cigarettes : un phénomène d'une ampleur considérable dont la seule raison d'être est de servir les intérêts des grands fabricants de tabac

"Cigarette smuggling: a wide scope phenomenon only there to serve the interests of big tobacco manuafacturers" uses industry officials' quotes and documents to describe how tobacco manufacturers are involved in the organisation of smuggling and how manufacturers use smuggling in two ways: on one hand, to flood markets with cheap cigarettes and defeat governements' efforts to reduce tobacco consumption by adopting one of the most efficient public health measures (ie: high taxation of tobacco products) and on the other hand, by using the false threat of increased contraband to scare politicians and prevent them from adopting strong fiscal policies. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) with a protocol on smuggling and the collaboration between international agencies is a means to counter and defeat the tobacco industry attemps at sabotaging efficient public health measures.

My Soldier

The first time I tried to kill a man, I was thirteen years old. I was a seventh grader at Oxford High School; he was a soldier, probably around nineteen or twenty, from nearby Fort McClellan. I don't remember his name now, though he must have told it to me. I remember little of what he looked like or the things he said to me. Mostly I remember how much I wanted him to die. In 1985 in Oxford, Alabama, there wasn't much for kids to do. At night they'd drive around, looping up and down the highway between the mall and the Sonic, stopping for fries or burgers or to make out on Thrill Hill. They'd drink and smoke pot. Soldiers from the fort, making their own loops among the pawn shops and movie theaters and bars, would often intersect with the high school students and try to hook up. I suppose they were sometimes successful, though most of the kids I knew regarded guys from the fort as trashy, foreign, and dangerous. At thirteen, I was too young and too straitlaced for this social scene. I spent my nights with homework and Stephen King novels, waiting for puberty (long overdue, by my estimation) and adulthood. I'd had a few crushes, but by and large, boys were still strange and often malicious creatures best avoided. As for the soldiers, I never gave them a thought when I noticed them at matinees or in the malls on weekends. They were simply another fixture of the landscape, like the red clay soil or Snow Creek or the World's Largest Office Chair next to the defunct furniture store downtown—something I noted as I passed by. So this man, the one I tried to kill, I ordinarily would have passed by if he hadn't introduced himself. It must have been a Sunday afternoon, when the Sunshine Skate Center in town had a special rate and parents dropped off their kids for hours at a time. I had never really liked roller skating because I was tall and gangly and graceless even in tennis shoes, and the [End Page 99] additional element of wheels seemed to invite disaster and disgrace. I was there to chaperone my younger sister as she giddily circled the rink over and over and over. I was sitting on one of the carpet-covered benches, unlacing my rented skates and considering another game of Space Invaders, when he walked up. He was taller than I was, but probably shorter than I am now, only about five-foot-seven or so. His build was slight but wiry, and he looked vaguely uncomfortable in his jeans and T-shirt. His hair had the standard military buzz, and he sported a thin, sandy mustache on his lip. He said he and his friend had been watching me skate, and pointed to the wall, where another buzz-cut stood smirking. "I told him I was going to come and say hey to you," he said. I have no idea what, if anything, I said in reply. My ears rang with blood; I must've been blushing like a neon sign. He looked over at his friend, back at me, and asked to sit. I must've nodded because he sat close beside me on the bench. He smelled like cheap snack bar pizza and cigarettes. He asked me my name, how old I was, and I told him. This is when he must've introduced himself, though I cannot recall that information, only what he said next. "You're pretty," he said. Are there any words a girl more desperately wants to hear, yet fears hearing? I was tall, skinny, and freckled, with lank brown hair and crooked teeth still years away from braces. I was also smart and shy and was used to being teased by the boys in my school. This felt like a setup. Probably I said nothing and looked...

Tobacco commerce on the internet: a threat to comprehensive tobacco control

Although internet use continues to increase and e-commerce sales are expected to exceed US$1 trillion by the end of 2001, there have been few assessments in the literature regarding the...

Tobacco taxes and teenage smoking: A political issue

In 1937, Dr Alan Brown, the famed Toronto paediatrician, played a critical role in stimulating the passage of laws mandating the pasteurization of milk in Ontario. He had challenged the Premier of the day, Mitchell Hepburn, to introduce such legislation during the premier’s visit to The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario. The premier had been struck by the plight of the many children suffering from the effects of bovine tuberculosis. Brown recognized that political action, not clinical interventions, would eliminate the scourge of bovine tuberculosis. Hepburn’s announced intention to pass such laws ignited a political firestorm as the powerful farm lobby of the day swung into gear in an attempt to prevent the passage of this legislation. It is a tribute to Dr Brown’s insight, and Mitchell Hepburn’s tenacity and determination that the law was eventually passed, and Ontario’s children received the benefits of pasteurized milk. It was, in essence, a dramatic example of the impact of the development of ‘healthy’ public policy and the important role that physicians can play in precipitating and supporting such initiatives (1). Political advocacy in the cause of public health is as appropriate today as it was in Dr Brown’s era, and it is in keeping with the finest traditions of professional behaviour. The contemporary epidemics of tobacco-caused diseases have their genesis during adolescence but find their full expression in adulthood (2). Clearly any steps that might prevent the development of nicotine addiction among the young will have a profound impact upon the health of the community. The challenge of stopping adolescent smoking is best met by developing a comprehensive approach that includes education, the elimination of all forms of tobacco advertising and sponsorship activity, industry deglamorization strategies, marketing controls and (perhaps most effective of all) tax increases on tobacco products. It is well established that adolescents are more sensitive to the price of tobacco products. A 10% increase in the price of cigarettes generally produces an overall decline of 4% in cigarette consumption among adults (a relationship described as price elasticity that reflects the degree to which consumption of a commodity declines in response to price increases). Among adolescents, such a price increase produces an overall decline in consumption of 8% or more (3). The tobacco tax rollback of 1994 has had a catastrophic effect, arresting the declines in tobacco consumption that occurred in the years preceding. National surveys “have demonstrated that more teenagers and more young adults are smoking today than at the beginning of the decade” (4). It is hard to conceive of government activity more craven than the decision to roll back tobacco taxes in the face of an industry-fabricated smuggling ‘crisis’. A decision that is all the more ironic given the fact that “Ontario and Quebec now have the distinction of having the cheapest cigarettes in North America”, according to David Sweanor of the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association (5). “There are two causes of disease,” noted Rudolf Virchow, “one is pathological, the other political”. The political decision of the Chretien government to lower tobacco taxes will cause disease. It will be political action that corrects the public health anomalies that have been induced by that disastrous 1994 action. Sadly, it will be the thousands of adolescents who have become addicted to tobacco in the intervening years who will pay the ultimate price for this political folly. As physicians, we are often unaware of the power that we possess when we speak out, forcefully and thoughtfully, on matters relating to public health. Paediatricians can play a forceful role in alerting their political representatives to the inescapable reality of the adverse effects of the decision to roll back tobacco taxes five years ago. This decision has also cost Canadian governments (and hence the taxpayer) almost $4.8 billion in tobacco tax revenues. In contrast, the tobacco companies have watched their profits climb 62% during the period of the rollback and received a windfall profit of $1.33 billion. It is imperative that the government re-establish appropriate levels of taxation on tobacco products. In 1994, speaking in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Jean Chretien noted that “...much as we regret the necessity of lowering cigarette taxes, we must do so at least until we have put the smuggling networks out of business. Then we will be able to restore the appropriate level of taxation that the situation needs”. Canadian physicians must remind the Prime Minister of those words and of the gravity of the situation that has produced an explosive growth in adolescent smoking. In doing so, we would honour the memory and example of Dr Alan Brown. Perhaps we might also point out the courage and integrity of Mitchell Hepburn who was willing to confront powerful vested interests in the cause of community and child health.

Cheap Spirits, Cigarettes, and Free Speech: The Implications of 44 Liquormart

Cheap Spirits, Cigarettes, and Free Speech: The Implications of 44 Liquormart

Smuggling and cross border shopping of tobacco in Europe

Governments have recently become concerned about cross border shopping and smuggling because it can decrease tax revenue. The tobacco industry predicted that, with the removal of border controls in the European Union, price differences between neighbouring countries would lead to a diversion of tobacco trade, legally and illegally, to countries with cheaper cigarettes. According to them this diversion would be through increased cross border shopping for personal consumption or through increased smuggling of cheap cigarettes from countries with low tax to countries with high tax, where cigarettes are more expensive. These arguments have been used to urge governments not to increase tax on tobacco products. The evidence suggests, however, that cross border shopping is not yet a problem in Europe and that smuggling is not of cheap cigarettes to expensive countries. Instead, more expensive "international" brands are smuggled into northern Europe and sold illegally on the streets of the cheaper countries of southern Europe.

Nicotine and smoking.

Cigarette smoking is one of the most persistent habits known to man; for many years, he has been possessed by the bizarre but irresistible urge to inhale the smoke produced by burning the dried and shredded leaves of Nicotiana tabacum. The alternative methods of administration, sniffing and chewing, lost favor with the introduction of cheap cigarettes made from fluecured tobacco. Unlike the smoking of cigars and pipes, absorption of nicotine from cigarette smoke mainly takes place in the lungs. Despite convincing evidence that life is shortened by about 5 minutes for every cigarette smoked, consumption continues unabated throughout the world.