Poor smokers 'support smuggling'

Cigarette smuggling is a major problem in the UK

Low income smokers living in socially deprived areas view cigarette and tobacco smuggling as a positive way to keep the cost of smoking down, research suggests.

The findings follow the launch of a £209m three-year government campaign to tackle the problem of tobacco smuggling.

To me, the smugglers are doing you a favour

Smoker

But the researchers say the strategy may be undermined by smokers who think black market smugglers provide a valuable service.

It is estimated that up to a third of cigarettes smoked in the UK are smuggled or contraband - amounting to £2,500 million in lost revenue during 1999.

Researchers warn the only way to tackle smoking effectively is to give disadvantaged smokers more help to quit.

But this could be made more difficult due to the widespread availability of cheap black market products.

Only a minority of smokers questioned in the study said the rising cost of legitimately-sold tobacco would encourage them to stop smoking.

Little support

A team from the University of Edinburgh interviewed 50 male and 50 female adult smokers who smoked on average 20 a day and who lived in two socially deprived areas.

They found that most smokers wanted to quit, but said there was little support available to help them do it.

Report author Amanda Amos said that while few people were prepared to openly admit to researchers that they bought illegally-smuggled tobacco, most knew where to get hold of it, how much it would cost and the brands available.

She told BBC News Online: "Most of the people who we interviewed were aware of smuggled tobacco being available in their area but very few made any negative comments about it.

"Those concerns that were expressed focused more on the quality of the products that were available and whether they had bad side effects."

Pubs were the most popular selling and buying points for smuggled tobacco, while other people spoke of door-to-door contraband vendors.

Some respondents viewed smuggling as a reasonable response to the perceived high prices of cigarettes and considered that smugglers were providing a valuable service.

Critical

Many smokers criticised the government for its high tobacco taxation and the lack of local services to help them stop smoking.

Some people will buy cigarettes from the cheapest source

The researchers called for an expansion in smoking cessation services to make them more accessible to smokers in deprived areas - where rates of smoking are high, and rates of quitting low.

The report said: "This study suggests that smokers in areas of deprivation may show little support for tackling smuggling until more action is taken to deal with the wider material and personal factors that make it so difficult for them to quit."

Clive Bates, director of the anti-smoking charity Action on Smoking and Health, said: "The service offered by smugglers is like the service offered by drug dealers - they might look like a friendly source of supply, but they just want your money and don't care about your life.

"Helping people to carry on smoking is just about the worst favour you can do them - a bit like transmitting a disease, and making them pay as well.

"We think the government should be putting more of the tobacco tax back to poor smokers to help them quit.

"Health Secretary Alan Milburn should ring-fence at least one penny in the pound and create a special fund for persuading and helping smokers to quit."

The research is published in the British Medical Journal.