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Doctors call for tobacco price rise
15 April 2009.
AMA Victoria has called on the State Government to raise cigarette taxes following the release today of a Cancer Council Victoria study which found many smokers would quit if the price of tobacco rose.
Almost three quarters of the Cancer Council Victoria’s 4,500 survey respondents said they would quit if the price of cigarettes rose by 50 per cent.
“If that’s what it takes to prevent addiction, disease and death caused by tobacco in Victoria, we should increase the tax on cigarettes,” said AMA Victoria President Dr Doug Travis.
“Smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease in Victoria. It is responsible for around 4,000 deaths each year and causes hundreds of thousands of Victorians to live with disease, illness, pain and discomfort.
“In order to reduce the death and disease caused by smoking, we need to reduce the number of individuals who smoke.”
Dr Travis said Victoria had historically been a leader in the efforts to curb smoking and the government’s Tobacco Control Strategy, released in December 2008, included many important initiatives to reduce rates of smoking.
“Victoria has been a leader in implementing anti-tobacco measures in the past, but we can’t stop there,” he said.
“We need to keep looking forward and consider other options to curb smoking. If smokers tell us a price rise would make them quit, the government should investigate this avenue.
“The only benefits of smoking are addiction, disease and death.”
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