Editor’s Note: Attached below is a study from the Adam Smith Institute, Plain Packaging: Commercial expression, anti-smoking extremism and the risks of hyper-regulation. Key points emphasized in the study include:
1. “One in nine cigarettes smoked around the world is counterfeit or smuggled. The illicit market lowers prices, fuels underage consumption, deprives the treasury of tax revenue and makes an unhealthy habit still more hazardous.”
2. “190 billion counterfeit cigarettes are made each year in China alone and 65% of the cigarettes seized in the EU are counterfeit.”
3. “Chemical analyses of these illicit products show that they contain two, three or even ten times the level of heavy metals found in legitimate brands.”
4. Black marketeers will have two reasons to celebrate if plain packaging is introduced.
See, Adam Smith Institute Study: plain-packaging