Massachusetts Sales Data: E-Cig Ban Has Driven Ex-Smokers Back To Smoking

Source from:  VapingPost 11/07/2019

Sales data released by Piper Jaffray compare the four weeks ending October 20th 2019, when the Massachusetts emergency ban went into effect, to the four weeks prior to the ban, and then compared the figures to the sales data of the same period last year. The analysis revealed that as predicted, ex-smokers in Massachusetts who had switched to vaping in order to curb their habit, are now returning back to smoking.

A significant increase in cigarette sales since the e-cig ban.

In a post on his blog page, public health expert Dr. Michael Siegel, pointed out that on a national scale there was only a minimal difference in cigarette sales between these two time periods from 2018 to 2019, and that however this difference was more significant in Massachusetts.

“Nationally, there was very little difference in the rate of decline in cigarette sales between these two time periods from 2018 to 2019. The rate of decline decelerated by 0.3 percentage points (from -7.8% to -7.5%). However, in Massachusetts, the rate of decline decelerated by a massive 5.7 percentage points (from -9.8% to -4.1%),” said Siegel.

“Another way of expressing this is that in September 2019, national cigarette sales were 92.5% of what they were in September 2018, and in October 2019, they were 92.2% of what they were in October, 2018. Thus, there was little change in the rate of decline,” he explained about the national figures.

However, he pointed out, the data specific to Massachusetts tells a different story. “While cigarette sales in September 2019 were 90.2% of what they were in September 2018, in October 2019, they were 95.9% of what they were in October 2018, a substantial lowering of the rate of decline in cigarette sales.”  Enditem