From movie stars making cigarette smoking look so artistic to young adults of the new generation cannot get over the addiction of smoking. While to the French, smoking cigarette is a luxury, which would clearly define their country’s income, and also advance medical technology and food which ensures the state of luxury doesn’t change for them.
But, what happens when in countries like ours, 60% young adults smoke cigarettes and only 20% of them can afford them with their own earned money. Does that mean, the other 40% doesn’t have employment or they are being supported by their family or the government hasn’t thought of their fulfillment of their state of luxury?
Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths. And in our country, none knows the count yet!
Well, the government has thought of it a long time back then the only cigarettes people could afford is the one with the red-filters and one cigarette which costs 15 BDT in today was worth 7 & 8 BDT only! The net effect on cigarette demand depends on the relative strength of the price and income increases which, in turn, affect the affordability of cigarettes. A recent study confirmed that cigarettes indeed became more affordable in Bangladesh between 2009 and 2015, and this change has been linked to the increase in cigarette consumption. So, does unemployment make people not enjoy the luxury between their fingers ? That would not be true if the case study would clearly define that even a rickshaw puller spends 24 % of his daily income on smoking tobacco, which means , the total global economic cost of smoking is estimated at around $US 1.85 trillion, or around 1.8% of global GDP. Therefore, a significant increase in tobacco taxes can help close the gap between the cost of tobacco use and the revenue generated from taxes on tobacco sales – thus the government wouldn’t have to worry about the economic downfall for as long as the papers are rolling and the leaves are being dried, burned and inhaled.
The price gap became more pronounced after the repositioning of medium-price brands in the high tier in 2015–2016 and continued until 2017–2018, incentivizing the downward shift to cheaper brands while taxes and prices were increasing.
Lower rate of excise tax for the low-price tier incentivized the expansion of the market for low-price cigarettes, which was historically dominated by two large domestic manufacturers: United Dhaka Tobacco Co. Ltd and Abul Khair Tobacco. The multinational giant British American Tobacco previously operated only in the market for higher-priced brands. In the late 2000s, it entered the market for low-price brands with the objective of addressing a broader array of consumer preferences and tapping the potential of market expansion.
The annual profit of British American Tobacco from cigarette sales in Bangladesh increased by 121% between 2009 and 2016, from 3.84 to 8.47 billion BDT in 2018 prices. The change is largely attributable to the volume growth of sales by 103%, from 24.7 to 50.0 billion cigarettes, driven by the increasing share of low-price brands to 74% (37 of 50 billion cigarettes) of the total production of the company by 2015.
Bangladesh has a smoking age of 15 years old and the current rate of smokers is 39.10% which is the highest among all the other neighboring countries who are developing and developed too and while, we are still looking for the brighter side of life.
Smoking cigarettes or the luxuriously rolled dried tobacco leaves with a brand name are smoked as a trend too- to match up the level of so-called coolness and showing off maturity. The leading stars of Hollywood Bollywood movies show great characters with a storyline that influences teenagers to indulge themselves in smoking cigarettes. Being on trend is good if you are craving to keep yourself updated, but what about the health, economy, financial state of one’s family who cannot afford the education of their highly addictive kids? The country doesn’t ensure secure employment to all, neither financial help to students who deserve credit for their merit. In the meantime, these young adults are funded by their families who dream of a future for their children.
Luxury is not bad! A country thinking of developing their economic state is not bad either. Following the trend is a great source of learning. But what is bad here is how you accept it and how you plan to make cigarettes really a luxury helping the country’s economic state to develop and not making it an addiction to yourself and all around you.
You see, medical facilities are not yet that strong in our country, neither can all afford great medical help for any of the health issues caused by luxury or trend. Giving is a thumbs up and a thumbs down is a matter of confusion. Definitions can be different based on point of views and conditions of economy, education, healthcare and most importantly us.
So, how to define smoking? Or a 3 inch cigarette? Luxury…trend…or Business.
Samiown Naher is a student law department of the North South University (NSU)
