Why it is right to increase the price of cigarettes

Smoking is a free choice, and therefore should not be criminalized. But the harms of smoking affect the entire community in two clear ways: deaths from cigarette-related diseases (and this is a problem that also affects passive smokers), and the costs to the state of treatments covered by the National Health Service resulting from smoking-related diseases.

So, if there is a justified and motivated increase, it is that of cigarettes, which brings many benefits, starting with the health of citizens. The Public Accounts Observatory He ran some calculations, and the results are truly surprising: an increase of €5 per pack would lead to a 37 percent decrease in smoking-related cancer deaths (currently 3,5 per year in Italy). Not only that, but the reduction in treatment costs, borne by public spending on smoking-related diseases—currently estimated at around €35 billion—would also result in a reduction in this figure and, at the same time, €800 million in new revenues per year.

On the other hand, there are high-level institutions in the medical world who are asking for a sharp and determined increase of 5 euros per package: from the Mario Negri Institute to the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, from the Italian Association of Oncology to the Airc. And also according to the World Health Organization, Increasing cigarette prices is one of the most effective measures against smoking. But so far, the smoking lobby has always won: the last increase in cigarette prices dates back to 2025, by just 20-30 cents per pack.

Scientific research converges on one point: a significant price increase would induce many people to quit smokingOn the contrary, still-low prices actually incentivize smoking. And here lies another contradiction. Smoking is now banned almost everywhere, often even outdoors, and increasingly it's not even permitted indoors. Faced with such strictness, perhaps even questionable with respect to individual freedoms, why not adopt a measure that would serve to reduce deaths and medical costs, and increase state revenue?