Two big actions are working against cigarette smoking. One is banning smoking in most public spaces and the other is jacking up the price.
Both approaches work on getting smokers to quit or smoke less. It starts becoming a pain in the ass to smoke, plus it’s expensive. Smoking a few cigarettes less a day improves smokers’ health.
The high cost and lower visibility also act to deter kids from starting to smoke which is good since the younger someone starts smoking, the higher the chance is that they’ll get addicted. Just by costing a lot, works against a kid starting to smoke. And now kids don’t see smoking very much in public so they don’t perceive smoking as an appealing social norm. Not starting is good.
In NYC a pack of cigs is about $12. And the percentage of New Yorkers who smoke is down to around 14%. One hospital official there commented that, “Even our schizophrenia patients, who are the most addicted, who used to smoke two and three packs a day, even they are smoking less because of the price.”
Well they’re crazy, not stupid.