Health Canada research said the average smoker is spending $170 a month on cigarettes, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. .“Smokers were asked to indicate how much they spent in the past month on cigarettes,” said the research. .“Responses ranged broadly from nothing to $400 or more.”.Health Canada has targeted reducing smoking rates from 18% of Canadians to 5% by 2036. Researchers said 35% of Canadians find the cigarettes they smoke to be unaffordable. .Discount illegal cigarettes account for one-third of the market, according to an October submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee by Imperial Tobacco Canada. .“Illegal tobacco costs around $2 billion annually in lost tax revenue with that money diverted to some of Canada’s most notorious organized crime groups,” said Imperial Tobacco CEO Ralf Wittenberg. .“Despite this, the federal government has barely mentioned illegal tobacco since 2015 let alone taken any measures to address it.”.The research said the typical tobacco user in Canada is a college-educated professional who started smoking in high school, earns more than $60,000 a year, is satisfied with their life, and used tobacco to relax. It said smoking “calms them down when they are stressed or upset.”.Researchers said most smokers light up within 30 minutes of waking each morning. They said the majority of them smoked about half a pack a day..About four-fifths of respondents said they tried to quit in the past year. Two-thirds smoke daily. .Findings were based on questionnaires with 7,248 smokers across Canada. Health Canada paid Environics Research $249,184 for the research..The Canadian government proposed printing warnings on every cigarette sold in June. .READ MORE: Canada could be the first country to print a warning on every cigarette.If successful, Canada would become the first country in the world to require a warning be printed on every cigarette..“We need to address the concern that these messages may have lost their novelty, and to an extent we worry that they may have lost their impact as well,” said Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett.
