FRIDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) — How can the government help Americans stop smoking?
Did I miss that part of the Constitution that says the government is supposed to coerce its citizens into making smart health choices?
According to a study co-authored by Frieden, higher tobacco taxes appeared to be most effective method. That’s not surprising: [New York] state hiked the per-pack cigarette tax from $1.11 to $1.50 in 2002, and [New York] city followed up with a near-20-fold increase, from eight cents to $1.50 a pack, the study reported.
As a result, the typical cost of a pack of cigarettes grew by a third to a hefty $6.85. At that rate, a pack-a-day smoker would have to shell out $2,500 a year, the study said.
In total, the number of smokers in the city dropped from 21.6 percent to 19.2 percent between 2002 and 2003, amounting to about 140,000 people. “Rates came down substantially in every group, in all parts of the city, among males and females, among all educational levels, and among both U.S.- and foreign-born people,” Frieden said.
Sure, the higher price will discourage some from smoking and encourage a few smokers to quit. But at what social cost? It would seem to be increased crime and violence, similar to what you find with other government attempts to prohibit certain substances…
New York’s Deadly Cigarette Tax
Earlier this month, federal authorities announced the arrest of 10 people charged with smuggling millions of dollars worth of cigarettes from Virginia to New York. The smugglers are now also being investigated for possible terrorist ties. Two weeks earlier, New Jersey police stopped a truck headed to New York City and found more than $1 million of bootleg cigarettes.
Those are only the latest in a series of busts of large operations supplying New York City’s cigarette black market. That market received a big boost last year when Mayor Michael Bloomberg hiked the city’s cigarette excise tax from 8 cents to $1.50 per pack. That hike, coupled with a series of recent increases in the state cigarette tax, has pushed the price of legal brand name cigarettes to more than $7.50 per pack. As a result, it is possible to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars on every truckload of cigarettes smuggled into the city.
Competing with smugglers to supply the city’s illicit market are thieves who target businesses that distribute and sell cigarettes. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reports that there has been a dramatic rise in the number of tobacco thefts in the NYC region in recent years. Law enforcement authorities as far away as Virginia and North Carolina have also reported a rash of heists that they think were aimed at supplying the city’s growing illegal market.
Or as Denis Leary so wisely opined, “They are a drug, we are addicted. You could put out a pack with a skull and crossbones on the front, call it ‘Tumors’, and smokers will be lined up around the block to get ’em. Raise the price of the smokes and we’ll break into your house and steal stuff to get ’em.”
