Suggestions to reduce the tobacco excise have been slammed by the AMA, which claims it could reverse decades of effective action.
Amidst growing discussion on how to tackle the illegal tobacco industry, the AMA has panned on the suggestion of reducing the tobacco excise.
The AMA argued in a recent statement that the suggested reduction could reverse decades of proven-effective public health policy.
“There’s absolutely no evidence to support the idea that reducing excise will impact illegal tobacco – in fact the evidence says the opposite, with jurisdictions that have reduced the excise seeing a horrible combination of increased smoking rates and no tangible impact on the illegal tobacco trade,” AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen said.
“The arguments being made conveniently ignore the evidence and factors that drive the illegal tobacco trade. This is a simplistic and misguided solution to a complex problem that risks undermining decades of successful public policy to reduce rates of smoking.”
The AMA said that the growth in calls for a tobacco excise reduction have been backed by big tobacco.
It pointed to Canada’s experience of halving its tobacco excise to address illegal importation from the US border, which had the effect of producing an increase in smoking rates, especially in young people.
“The evidence is … that having a tobacco excise system and a high price of tobacco actually leads to fewer people starting, more people cutting back, and obviously an overall reduction in the amount of tobacco use,” AMA vice president Dr Julian Rait told The Medical Republic.
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“If you look at a jurisdiction like the UK that has a high price and taxation, accordingly, they don’t have a problem because they have a fairly comprehensive enforcement strategy.
“What we really need in Australia if we want to tackle illicit tobacco use is we really need to have gaps in the supply chain addressed, and also much better enforcement.”
Support for general practice was also pushed as part of the statement, highlighting the role of GPs in providing addiction care.
“General practitioners also must be supported to spend the time they need with patients who are struggling with addiction to nicotine,” Dr McMullen said.
“GPs provide high-quality and cost-effective health interventions for patients addicted to nicotine and additional reform and support is required to continue these services, particularly in rural, regional, and remote areas.”
An expansion to rebates for longer consultations would also help to better address addiction concerns among patients, the AMA vice president said.
“We’ve called for an increase in the rebates for longer consultations to address this, because we just don’t think tobacco addiction or nicotine addiction can be dealt with, you know, in shorter consults,” Dr Rait said.
