Public Comment Forum

Editor’s Note: See Counterfeit Products, Genuine Harm: How Intellectual Property Theft Fuels Organized Crime While Undermining American Communities.

From: New Straits Times | Letters

By LORENZO MONTANARI

Since Australia imposed plain packaging, which is an extreme anti-intellectual property rights policy, to reduce the smoking rate, the two-decade decline in smoking stopped.

That’s according to the government’s records. There are more smokers and more seizures of illicit cigarettes in Australia than there were five years ago when the plain packaging policy started.

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From: American Enterprise Institute

Roger Bate

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So what has happened? The illicit market — both domestically produced cigarettes that evade taxes and, increasingly, illegally imported cigarettes (from Dubai in particular) — has grown rapidly. It is difficult to estimate the amount, but the illicit market has grown by at least 60% since 2012 and perhaps almost doubled. Illicit trade is bad for legitimate producers, Pakistan’s treasury, and also health. The illicit products are usually far higher in tar and when burnt are more injurious to health.

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