“In France, it is tobacconists and manufacturers who make tobacco tax policy,” denounces the president of the Anti-tobacco Alliance

“In France, it is tobacconists and manufacturers who make tobacco tax policy”denounced Tuesday, November 28 on franceinfo the president of the Anti-tobacco Alliance, Loïc Josseran, also university professor-hospital practitioner of Public Health at the UFR of Health Sciences-University of Versailles St Quentin.

He declares himself “extremely disappointed” of the tax component of the national anti-smoking plan unveiled Tuesday by the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau, which plans to increase the price of a pack of cigarettes from 11 to 12 euros in 2025, then 13 euros in 2026. This is “extremely insufficient” for Loïc Josseran. “This plan lacks ambition in its fiscal dimension”, he insisted, since “we are campaigning for a 16 euro package in 2027”. He recalls that “to offset the cost of tobacco to society, a pack would cost 42 euros.”

Prevention is better than cure

“If we are constantly running to get smokers out of smoking but we do nothing to prevent them from starting smoking, we will always be late”, he insists. According to several studies, “taxation is the best lever to prevent people from starting to smoke.”

Loic Josseran, however, was satisfied with the generalization of tobacco-free spaces, on beaches, in forests, around schools, provided for in the plan: “It’s a measure that goes in the right direction, removing tobacco from our environment is a form of denormalization that has proven its worth.”