Smoking costs the Welsh economy almost £800 million a year, according to a report by charity ASH Wales.
The report estimates that of the £790.66m lost, £302m is spent on healthcare, £288m is lost to productivity through premature deaths, £49.5m is lost through excess sickness absence, £41m is lost to businesses through smoking breaks, £25.8m spent clearing up smoking-related litter and £45.4 mis lost through premature death due to second hand smoke.
The report also reveals the cost of smoking to the economy as a whole is £145m higher each year than the amount generated by taxing tobacco.
Elen de Lacy, Chief Executive of ASH Wales said: “The evidence on both the costs to the economy and to public health of smoking is stark and they are dragging Wales down.
“We know that the vast majority of people who smoke want to quit, but we need more investment in a wider range of services that suit people’s needs. If we don’t invest the resources needed we will struggle to reduce smoking rates from 23% to 16% in Wales by 2020 and the burden on the economy will continue to increase.”
Kate Alley, Cancer Research UK’s tobacco policy manager, said: “The common misconception that tax raised from tobacco outweighs the cost of smoking to society simply isn’t true as shown by this report from ASH Wales. Smoking kills 100,000 people in the UK – 5,450 of whom are in Wales. That debt cannot be repaid, which is why more support is needed for the 70 per cent of adults who want to quit.
“It’s essential to make stop smoking services accessible, properly funded and within reach of people who need them. Eight in ten smokers start before the age of 19, so we must act to stop children from taking up the habit. We are pleased that Mark Drakeford has pledged to investigate whether Wales can legislate on standardised packaging of tobacco products, which will give children one less reason to start smoking.”
"The report also reveals the cost of smoking to the economy as a whole is £145m higher each year than the amount generated by taxing tobacco."
What about the jobs tobacco companies create?
If the overall cost is still greater than tobacco tax and jobs then my idea, that I have previously written on an article here, of phasing out the sale of tobacco and eventually outlawing it is perfect.
Hardly an objective report from an organisation whose sole function is to campaign against tobacco. Smoking shortens life therefore a real report would have to factor in the cost of care for the extra geriatrics, the pensions of those living longer through not smoking and so on.
I never pay any attention to statistics compiled by pressure groups of any kind. My engineering training taught me to measure things. Not sit at a desk and think up some figures whilst chewing a pencil as the author(s) of this report seem to have done.