Cheap, smuggled tobacco makes it harder to give up smoking

In areas of deprivation smokers readily buy contraband tobacco, and the availability of such produce works against their attempts to stop smoking. On p 203 Wiltshire et al report on a study from Edinburgh that examined smokers' attitudes to smuggled tobacco. On the whole smokers thought that vendors of contraband were providing a valuable service because, despite financial hardship, many smokers will find the money to buy cigarettes somehow so the cheaper the better. Respondents also justified buying contraband because of what they see as the excessive tax on tobacco and thought that the revenue was not being used to fund projects to help people in socioeconomically deprived areas to give up smoking.

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Relevant Article

"They're doing people a service"qualitative study of smoking, smuggling, and social deprivation

Susan Wiltshire, Angus Bancroft, Amanda Amos, and Odette Parry
BMJ 2001 323: 203-207. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]