Orrin Hatch: “Raising the prices of tobacco products is a proven way of reducing tobacco use in the short and medium terms. Price…”

“Raising the prices of tobacco products is a proven way of reducing tobacco use in the short and medium terms. Price hikes encourage the cessation and thwart initiation. Higher prices have the added benefit of reducing use among people not yet addicted to nicotine, including young people whose level of tobacco consumption may be even more sensitive to price. The impact and simplicity of price hikes were the main reason for the 1994 IOM report's first recommendation of a $2 per pack cigarette tax increase. Such a price increase should also have the desired disproportionately greater impact on preventing the initiation of tobacco use among young people.”