Pack Of Cigarettes 'May Rise To $100' In NZ 
 
 The price of a packet of cigarettes is set to rise significantly as New Zealand looks to stamp out smoking 
 
 The cost of a packet of cigarettes in New Zealand could rise to as much as $100 dollars - around £50 - by 2020 amid moves to stamp out smoking. 
 
 The Ministry of Health wants New Zealand to be smoke free by 2025 and the suggested increase gives the first hint of the drastic measures being discussed. 
 
 A document released under the Official Information Act to the country's 3 News website features a number of pricing scenarios - with the most extreme showing a single cigarette costing the equivalent of £2.50. 
 
 One option being considered is a 10% increase on a pack of 20 cigarettes year-on-year from 2013 to 2025, meaning it would cost $40 (£20) a pack by 2024. 
 
 But a second scenario would see packs at $100 each by 2020, achieved by an immediate shock rise of 30% to 60%, with on-going increases of 30% each year after that. 
 
 New Zealand aims to be smoke free by 2025 
 
 This model would reach the 2025 target to stamp out smoking completely, but is described in the paper as "probably unrealistic". 
 
 The most likely model would see a shock tax increase next year, and then a 10%-a-year rise, which would mean a packet of cigarettes costs around $60 (£30) by 2025. 
 
 Other ideas discussed in the document include regulating tobacco as a highly toxic substance, a ban on smoking in cars with children, a doubling of anti-smoking media campaigns and removing tobacco from duty-free sale. 
 
 The briefing paper said: "If we are to continue to lower smoking prevalence we need to both increase the numbers who successfully quit smoking, and reduce smoking initiation among young people. 
 
 "Tobacco taxation is the single most effective intervention available to drive down smoking prevalence figures." 
 
 The Ministry of Health has said that the paper is an internal policy discussion and does not represent Government policy. ||||| Cigarette price hike risks black market - PM 
 
 By Adam Ray 
 
 The Prime Minister says a huge hike in the cost of cigarettes could encourage a black market for smokers. 
 
 3 News revealed yesterday that Health Ministry officials think cigarettes need to cost $100 a packet to make New Zealand smoke-free. 
 
 But Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia says she has a whatever-it-takes attitude to the idea. 
 
 Felix Five would love to quit, but struggles because he's addicted. He says pumping up the cost of cigarettes won't stop smokers. 
 
 “People still use heroin,” says the smoker. “It is expensive, cocaine is expensive. So I don't think people will stop smoking.” 
 
 A Health Ministry paper obtained by 3 News says drastic measures are needed to meet the Government's aim for New Zealand to be smoke-free by 2025. 
 
 One proposal is for prices to increase by around a third every year to reach $100 a packet within eight years. 
 
 But officials said one shock increase followed by smaller increases is more reasonable. 
 
 John Key says the Government is looking at a range of policies to stop smoking and huge price hikes could fuel black market trading. 
 
 “Whether that would be sustainable in terms of the black market, I don't know,” says John Key. “It seems like a big step.” 
 
 The Health Ministry says the discussion paper may be used to give advice to Government. 
 
 3 News asked Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia if she supported the idea of making cigarettes $100 a packet. 
 
 She gave a simple answer: whatever it takes. 
 
 3 News ||||| According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use is a cause of death for more than 5.4 million people worldwide every year. But a new review published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that by tripling the taxes on tobacco globally, 200 million tobacco deaths could be avoided by 2025. 
 
 Authors of the review, including Dr. Prabhat Jha, director of the Center for Global Health Research of St. Michael's Hospital and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, say that the tax increase would double the retail price of tobacco in some countries, as well as reduce the price difference between the cheapest and most expensive cigarettes. 
 
 They add that rather than pushing smokers to swap to a cheaper cigarette brand, the strategy would encourage them to quit smoking and discourage young people from taking up the habit. 
 
 Dr. Jha says tripling tobacco taxes would be particularly effective in low- and middle-income countries, where smoking rates are on the rise and the price of tobacco is relatively low. 
 
 But he adds that high-income countries would also see benefits from the approach. He uses France as an example, noting that the country halved its cigarette consumption between 1990 and 2005 by increasing taxes to well above inflation. 
 
 Dr. Jha adds: 
 
 "Death and taxes are inevitable, but they don't need to be in that order. A higher tax on tobacco is the single most effective intervention to lower smoking rates and to deter future smokers." 
 
 Strategy 'would reduce tobacco use and increase revenue' 
 
 Dr. Jha points out that as well as reducing tobacco consumption, the approach would also create revenue that governments worldwide would be able to use for health care. 
 
 For example, he notes that there are around 200,000 tobacco-related deaths every year of people under the age of 70 in the US and Canada. 
 
 He estimates that even if the price of tobacco was doubled in these countries, around 70,000 deaths would be prevented and the higher taxes would generate an extra $100 billion every year for a total of $400 billion. 
 
 
 
 A new review suggests that by tripling tobacco taxes worldwide, around 200 million tobacco-related deaths could be avoided by 2025, and the approach could also increase government revenue. A new review suggests that by tripling tobacco taxes worldwide, around 200 million tobacco-related deaths could be avoided by 2025, and the approach could also increase government revenue. 
 
 Sir Richard Peto, co-author of the review from the University of Oxford in the UK, says there is an "urgent need" for governments to develop strategies that will help people to give up smoking and stop youngsters from starting in the first place. 
 
 The investigators note that at the 2013 United Nations General Assembly and the World Health Organization (WHO) Assembly, countries worldwide came to an agreement that they would aim to reduce smoking prevalence by around one-third by 2025, and reduce premature deaths from cancer and other diseases by 25%. 
 
 Sir Richard says that their approach would help countries to achieve these aims. 
 
 "This study demonstrates that tobacco taxes are a hugely powerful lever and potentially a triple win - reducing the numbers of people who smoke and who die from their addiction, reducing premature deaths from smoking and yet, at the same time, increasing government income," he says, adding: 
 
 "All governments can take action by regularly raising tobacco taxes above inflation, and using occasional steep tax hikes starting with their next budget. Young adult smokers will lose about a decade of life if they continue to smoke - they've so much to gain by stopping." 
 
 The authors say that controlling tobacco marketing is another strategy that may help people to stop smoking, noting that Australia introduced plain packaging in 2011 - an action that New Zealand plans to follow this year. 
 
 Medical News Today recently reported on a study suggesting that total smoking bans are effective in helping smokers to quit. 
 
 Written by Honor Whiteman
– While the US has been trying to disgust smokers into giving up tobacco, New Zealand has been considering a more direct idea: raising the price of cigarettes to $100 a pack. The Ministry of Health wants a smoke-free NZ by 2025, and the $100 price tag—which would be implemented by 2020—is one of the ideas being discussed … although officials admit it is "probably unrealistic." The plan seen as the most likely would make a pack of cigarettes a still-sizable $60 by 2025, Sky News reports. But, 3 News adds, Prime Minister John Key is concerned that higher prices may simply encourage a black market.