Will hike in price ever stop you smoking?

How much does a packet of cigarettes have to cost before a smoker decides it’s time to quit? Who knows? Paying anything at all for a product that is going to kill you strikes me as ludicrous anyhow, so I’m apt to think a report in Mail Online, predicting that cigs are likely to cost £15 a packet by 2020, might not have had quite the shock value that was intended. Maybe it should be £25 a packet, or £50? But what drains enthusiasm for punitive pricing is the knowledge that hiking up the cost creates wider margins and new markets for criminal gangs. Already in the UK, it is thought at least 20% of the cigarettes smoked are bought abroad or illegally. So there is a problem. On the other hand, I have treated many a client to stop smoking at my clinic in Leeds City centre who has said it was the expense of smoking that was prompting them to seek help to quit. And for that reason, I feel obliged to support the high-price-a- packet policy. When I treat such clients, of course, I point out there are other more important reasons to stop smoking than a weeping wallet – no matter how loud it squeals.