Almost half of smokers in Wales have been offered illegal tobacco to buy, a leading charity has claimed.
According to new research published by anti-smoking charity ASH, Wales has one of the largest illegal tobacco markets compared to each of the English regions, with 15% of all tobacco sold illegal.
Health Minister Mark Drakeford has announced that just over £7,000 will be made available to councils to help combat the problem of illegal tobacco with sniffer dogs.
More than 2,500 people from across the 22 Welsh local authorities were surveyed in the ASH study. It found that a quarter of Welsh smokers have bought illegal tobacco, with 60% of those purchasing them at least once a month.
Illegal tobacco includes foreign brands made especially for the black market; cigarettes and tobacco smuggled from countries with lower taxes and counterfeit or fake cigarettes.
It is often sold under the counter in shops and bars, in private houses and in car boot sales. The cigarettes sold on the black market are much cheaper than legal cigarettes making it easier for children to start smoking. The people who sell illegal tobacco are often linked to the selling of other illegal goods like drugs and alcohol, therefore buying illegal tobacco helps support organised crime.
Elen de Lacy, Chief Executive of ASH Wales said, “It is shocking that Wales has such a large illegal tobacco market. There needs to be investment and a comprehensive strategy to tackle the issue. The North East of England also had high sales of illegal tobacco but investment and a concerted campaign with several partners working together has brought the level down to 9% compared to 15% in 2009.”
Steve Hay, Illegal Tobacco Programme Manager for ASH Wales, added: “We look forward to working with enforcement agencies and other partners to have a positive impact on the use and attitudes towards illegal tobacco highlighted by the survey results published today.”
Health Minister Mark Drakeford, said, “Smoking is one of the leading causes of early death; and we are implementing a comprehensive range of measures to reduce the harm caused by tobacco. The trade in illegal tobacco is undermining our efforts to control tobacco use and to help people give up smoking.”
“It is important that we support more people to quit smoking. Stoptober is a great opportunity for smokers to be part of the challenge and give up.”
Research commissioned by ASH in 2010 has shown that the cost to the NHS of treating diseases caused by smoking is approximately £2.7 billion a year. A report by the Policy Exchange in 2010 estimated the total cost to society of smoking to be £13.74 billion. This includes the £2.7bn cost to the NHS for treating smokers and passive smokers but also the loss in productivity from smoking breaks (£2.9bn) and increased absenteeism (£2.5bn). Other costs include: cleaning up cigarette butts (£342 million), the cost of fires (£507m), the loss of economic output from the death of smokers (£4.1bn) and passive smokers (£713m). An estimated that about £380 million a year is being saved by the NHS as a result of public health strategies such as the ban on tobacco advertising and the creation of the stop smoking services which have resulted in fewer people smoking. While initially seeming a big saving, it is cancelled out in part by government expenditure (£88.2m) on the stop smoking services in England plus an additional £66.4m on medicinal aids (e.g. nicotine replacement therapy). (1) (2)
In contrast, the Treasury earned £9.7 billion in revenue from tobacco duties in the financial year 2012-2013 (excluding VAT).17 This amounts to 2% of total Government revenue. Including VAT at an estimated £2.6bn, total tobacco revenue was £12.3bn. The revenue generated by the tobacco related industry is much larger than originally meets the eye, approximately 5,700 people are employed in tobacco manufacturing in Great Britain, all pay taxes which contribute towards Treasury coffers. Without the tobacco industry reemployment of the people involved in such jobs would be a long-term goal. The 5700 people never all find work paying the same wages. With reduced wages their tax contributions will be lower. (3) (4)
With the tobacco industry being economically beneficial to the UK, is it worth trying to cut it back anymore than it already has been? I don’t like smoking as much as the next person. I would even encourage others not to partake in such an activity but should we really be spending millions on an anti-smoking campaign?
(1) Callum C, Boyle S, Sandford A. Estimating the cost of smoking to the NHS in England and the impact of declining prevalence. Health Economics Policy & Law, 2010.
(2) Nash, R & Featherstone H. Cough Up: Balancing tobacco income and costs in society. Policy Exchange, 2010.
(3) http://www.the-tma.org.uk/tma-public…-from-tobacco/
(4) Cogent, The Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association UK Tobacco Sector. National Statistics, Apr. 2012.