It appears that Aussie teenagers have responded positively to the Government’s plain packaging cigarettes policy, along with recent price hikes, with the number of adolescent smokers falling to an all-time low. From The ABC:
The latest figures out of New South Wales show in the past 20 years, the number of adolescents currently smoking has reduced by almost 80 per cent…
“Twenty years ago we had smoking amongst 12- to 17-year-olds sitting at about 23.5 per cent and we’re now as low as 6.7 per cent,” said Anita Dessaix from the Cancer Institute of New South Wales…
“About 20 years ago, the average age of initiation was about 14 years, we have seen an increase to about 16 years of age,” she said.
These figures are another slap in the face to the Murdoch press, who in 2014 ran a campaign against plain packaging cigarettes, arguing that it would be ineffective.
Since that time, real expenditure on cigarettes has fallen, as shown in the next chart, helped along of course by other policy measures (e.g. excise price hikes):
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for not smoking.
