Loïc Josseran, president of the Alliance against tobacco, estimates on franceinfo that if the number of smokers is stagnating, it is because of the price of cigarettes, which is not high enough, and the sale of tobacco to minors.
“We must significantly increase the price of the package”, launches Wednesday May 31 on franceinfo Loïc Josseran, the president of the Alliance against tobacco. On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, Public Health France reveals that 12 million people smoke daily in France. A figure that has stagnated since 2019. The fault, according to Loïc Josseran, to the absence “of a voluntary policy” from the government on the price of a pack of cigarettes but also because of the sale of tobacco to minors.
franceinfo: France has 12 million daily smokers according to Public Health France, this figure has remained at a high level since 2019. Why is it stagnating?
Loic Josseran: The first reason is that it had been observed at the end of the Covid crisis that the prevalence in France had started to rise again. The reassuring side is that this increase has stabilized but at a high level. We haven’t found a drop yet. The second explanation is probably the stagnation of the price of the package since only a few technical increases, catching up with inflation, have been implemented. On the other hand, a voluntary, dynamic tax policy over several years with a target price, which we estimate at €15 in 2027, would send a strong signal in terms of consumption. It is really the current wait-and-see policy, which has been going on for almost 2020 now, on taxation which is responsible for this stagnation in consumption today.
Should the price of a pack of cigarettes be increased?
The price must be increased, it must be increased significantly. It is a strong element of prevention. The World Health Organization says so. This prevention must also apply to the prohibition of “puff”, which is today a real gateway to smoking. And then, I think there is an element that remains very, very strong in our country: it is the fact that this tobacco product is still easily accessible to minors. Normally, tobacco should be strictly prohibited for sale to minors. However, it is not. I simply recall that two thirds of tobacconists in France sell tobacco to minors without any control. It’s absolutely daunting since we knowingly and voluntarily bring in the youngest to smoke to ensure consumption that will be part of time with a strong addiction and which will be the prevalence of tomorrow. . If we are not careful, the tobacco-free generation wanted by the President of the Republic in 2032 will only be a pipe dream and we already have before us the first elements of this next generation of smokers who are already there.
For you, the State does not give itself the means?
No, even if the state was voluntary. We have, it’s true in France, a strong arsenal of tobacco controls. We have a ban on sales to minors, even if it is not respected. We have the price increase which has been regular, but which is no longer taking place today. Fortunately, there are measures on which we cannot go back, such as the neutral package for example or the ban on smoking in public places. All of these are measures that are important, that are effective, but we must continue to develop effective prevention measures, act on this prevention, innovate. There is a measure that can be interesting: it is the marketing of tobacco. Which means that, from a certain year of birth, you no longer have the right to buy tobacco. Prohibiting the purchase of a product which one does not consume and which one has never used, is this in itself a restriction of freedom? I’m not sure. But that, the industry knows very well and it knows that if it does not sell to children, it goes downhill very quickly. So she has to sell to children.
So if we are really going to attack it on this marketing logic and we strictly remove the youngest from the influence of this industry and from buying tobacco, then I think we will be taking a huge step towards a dramatic and rapid decline in prevalence. This is what the New Zealanders have done in particular with great success. Today, if we wanted to counterbalance the effects of tobacco, from a financial point of view, we would need a €40 package. Tobacco costs the state, all of us, 120 billion euros a year. It is €2,000 for each smoker but also for each non-smoker. So it costs everyone: on an individual scale, it costs in health, but on a collective scale, it also costs us, financially. It is something that concerns all of us.
There is another track that the Minister of Health has just put on the table: prescriptions in pharmacies for electronic cigarettes as nicotine substitutes. What do you think ?
This can actually help smokers quit smoking. On the other hand, we must not lose sight of the fact that there, if we think of quitting tobacco by just changing the methods of weaning or the tools accessible for reimbursement for weaning, we are far from the mark. There, we are talking about emptying the Olympic swimming pool with a teaspoon while on the other side, the tobacco industry is filling it with a fire hose. Instead, we have to deal with the fire hose in a strong way and perhaps increase the size of the teaspoon rather than run after an industry that will have made all its profits and that will have sickened several generations and destroyed the environment. I think we have to go into the hard, on access to products and on prevention among the youngest. This is where it comes into play if we want to stop this pediatric tobacco epidemic in the 10 to 15 years ahead of us.
According to Public Health France, six out of ten daily smokers want to quit. Do you have any tips for them?
That they do not hesitate to be accompanied, to use nicotine replacement therapy. Why not, it’s true, an electronic cigarette is a valid means of quitting smoking. But that they do not hesitate to talk about it to the health professionals around them, to their pharmacist, so as to get help, to get advice, to go to Tabac Info Service also to be able to to progress serenely in their weaning. And always thinking that even if it’s a bit difficult, life afterwards without tobacco is just as pleasant, if not more than a life with tobacco, and we benefit from it much more.