Older smokers in Australia are turning to cannabis more than their younger counterparts as cigarettes get more expensive. Photo credit: Elsa Olofsson, Pexels.
Recent research shows that older Australians who smoke cigarettes are increasingly turning to cannabis as a substitute due to the rising cost of tobacco, reports news.com.au.
Since the federal government began raising tobacco taxes biannually, the price of cigarettes has skyrocketed—from just a few dollars in the 1990s to around A$70 for a pack of 25 today. This makes Australia the most expensive country in the world for cigarette purchases. The tax hikes were initially introduced as a way to encourage smoking cessation, with studies suggesting that the cost of smoking motivates many to quit.
However, new findings from Curtin University’s School of Accounting, Economics, and Finance reveal a different trend. The research, which examined the buying habits of approximately 100,000 Australians between 2001 and 2019 using data from the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey, found that older smokers (aged over 50) increased their cannabis use as cigarette prices rose. Interestingly, younger Australians (under 40) reduced their cannabis use in response to the price hikes, with no significant change among those aged 40 to 50.
The study found that a 10% increase in tobacco prices could lead to about 68,000 Australians over 50 either trying cannabis for the first time or using it more frequently as an alternative to tobacco. Professor Mark Harris, the study’s lead author, noted that the results were surprising, given that cannabis and tobacco are typically consumed together. “In economic terms, if they’re consumed together and it becomes more expensive to buy tobacco, you’d expect cannabis consumption to also fall,” he said.
“But what we’ve found is the relationships between the drugs, and the way people use them, potentially changes with the age of a consumer: cannabis can change from a complement of tobacco, to a replacement.”