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Loose tobacco, ethnicity, income and rurality

In New Zealand (NZ) and other western countries, tobacco taxation has lagged in addressing roll-your-own cigarettes and loose tobacco and has focused on increasing the relative cost of factory-made cigarettes, which has made roll-your-owns comparatively less costly and unintentionally created an incentive for smokers to switch to them. In NZ, roll-your-own use has increased since 1990. Almost half of smokers report using roll-your-owns, and this includes approximately 61% of 15-19 year olds and 60% of Māori smokers. These rates are greater than those reported in other countries. Young people may use roll-your-owns because they are cheaper than factory-made cigarettes, as smaller amounts of tobacco can be rolled in individual cigarettes, potentially to significantly less than the weight of a standard 0.7 gram manufactured cigarette. By 2010, in NZ there was a 14% difference in taxation between factory-mades versus loose tobacco, making roll-your-owns comparatively cheaper. This study investigated roll-your-own use and implications for tobacco taxation. Methods are published elsewhere. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, 751 participants (252 Wairoa Māori, 243 Christchurch Māori and 256 Christchurch non-Māori), randomly selected from the electoral roll received a CVD risk assessment, including questions on smoking from the NZ Tobacco Use Survey 2006. Of those who had ever smoked, 35% used roll-your-owns and a further 17% said they smoked them but also factory-mades when offered. For this research, they were combined into one category. Analysis used SPSS version 17. Statistical tests included Pearsons chi-square and logistic regression. Roll-your-own use was significantly more prevalent in the Māori samples (70% of Wairoa Māori current smokers, 71% of Christchurch Māori and 44% of Christchurch non-Māori, p=0.006). This was particularly evident in men (80% of Wairoa Māori men were current smokers, 76% of Christchurch Māori men and 36% of Christchurch non-Māori men, p=0.001). However, approximately 65% of women in the Māori samples also used roll-your-owns. Roll-your-own use tended to be more prevalent in Māori younger than 40 years (approximately 76% of current smokers in both Māori samples). However, more than 63% of Māori aged 40 and older also used them. In Wairoa Māori, 91% of current smokers in households with annual incomes under $30,000 used roll-your-owns (compared with 60% in households with incomes of NZ$30,000 and over) (p=0.001, 1 df). In Christchurch Māori, approximately 70% of smokers in both lower and higher income households used them. With Christchurch non-Māori as the reference group, logistic regression analysis of current smokers, predicting roll-your-own use, confirmed the existence of statistically significant differences between the samples (0.03). Other significant predictors were age (0.02), and total household income (0.01). The relationship between roll-yourown use and income was statistically significant, independent of age. Gender was not significant. Limitations include small sample and that the study was not designed to investigate why smokers chose roll-your-owns nor the use of cannabis rolled with loose tobacco. It also did not include the 15-19 year age group, however, we consider that if this age group had been included the results were unlikely to be different. Our results show that roll-your-own use is more prevalent in Māori in a rural area (Wairoa), particularly in lower income Wairoa households, compared with data from nationwide surveys. The NZ government has been lobbied to increase taxation on loose tobacco. In 2010, it announced a progressive increase in taxation, which is estimated to increase the tax by 52% and the retail price of loose tobacco by 40% by 2012. Our results tend to support this increase because elasticity (or price sensitivity) is greater in lower income groups and in younger people, in whom roll-your-own use is more prevalent. The effectiveness of the tax increase will depend on (a) their quitting response and (b) their price elasticity of demand. However, it should be recognised that sales taxes are regressive and have a more severe impact on lower income populations. Other policies are also needed, particularly to address nicotine addiction and to support quitting.