US: Raising Cigarette Taxes Could Lead Heavy Smokers to Cut Back

Source from:  TestCountry.com (blog)‎ 12/07/2012

It wouldn't be easy for heavy smokers to cut back on their cigarette consumption, but perhaps imposing higher taxes on tobacco products would do the trick.

According to a new research research that involved more than 7,000 smokers, increasing cigarettes taxes may cause heavy smokers to cut back more than lighter smokers, the HealthDay reports.

"On average, everyone was smoking a little less," lead researcher Patricia Cavazos-Rehg said in a university news release. "But when we factored in price changes from tax increases, we found that the heaviest smokers responded to price increases by cutting back the most."
 
At the onset of the study, the typical smoker averaged 16 cigarettes a day. That dropped to 14 per day after three years. During that time, the average price for a pack of cigarettes increased from $3.96 in 2001 to $4.41 in 2004. Most of that increase came from state taxes.
 
The researchers noted that those who smoked 40 cigarettes a day would have been expected to reduce their consumption by 11 cigarettes a day even without a price hike. However, in states where cigarette taxes rose by at least 35 percent, heavy smokers lessened their consumption by an average of 14 cigarettes per day.
 
Cavazos-Rehg and her team also found that while the heaviest smokers reduced their cigarette consumption by an average of 35 percent in response to higher taxes, smokers with a habit of 20 cigarettes cut their consumption by only 15 percent.
 
But despite the reduction rate in cigarette consumption, Cavazos-Rehg pointed out it would be better if smokers would quit cigarettes altogether. She said, "We don't know whether there's any health benefit if they continue to smoke, even if they are smoking less. However, if reducing helps an individual to quit eventually, then the health advantage becomes clear."
 
The study was published in the journal Tobacco Control. Enditem