Contraband Cigarette Purchasing from First Nation reserves in Ontario and Quebec: Findings from the 2002-2014 ITC Canada Survey

Cigarette packaging, warnings, prices, and contraband: A discrete choice experiment among smokers in Ontario, Canada

In Canada, despite substantial decline, tobacco use remains the leading risk factor responsible for mortality and morbidity. There is overwhelming evidence that higher tobacco taxes reduce tobacco use, even if high taxes create an incentive to avoid or evade tobacco taxes. Recently, in addition to taxes, plain and standardized packaging and printing a warning on each cigarette have been lauded to reduce tobacco use. In November 2019, Canada became the country with the most comprehensive cigarette packaging regulations; and in June 2022, Canada proposed to print health warnings on individual cigarettes, the first jurisdiction to ever do so. The regulations came into force on August 1, 2023, and are being implemented through a stepwise approach. Our objective was to examine the effects of plain and standardized packaging, warning on cigarettes, price, and the availability of illicit cigarettes on intention to purchase and risk perceptions. We conducted a discrete choice experiment, and examined heterogeneity in preferences using latent class models among smokers in Ontario, Canada. We found that using latent class analyses was essential in quantifying preferences for attributes of cigarettes and cigarette packs. First, nearly half of smokers stated a preference for cheaper illicit cigarettes in a branded pack without any health warnings, regardless of the licit cigarette alternatives. For about 20% of respondents, plain packaging and especially warning on cigarette sticks decreased the probability of stating a purchasing preference for these alternatives. Third, about a third of respondents chose competing alternatives with mostly one attribute in mind, price. Lastly, none of the products and attributes seem to have significantly influenced risk perception. Our findings attest to the importance of prices and taxes, to the potential of warnings on cigarette sticks to control tobacco use, and indicate that efforts to restrict the availability of illicit cigarettes may yield substantial benefits.

Do cigarette prices near secondary schools vary by area-level socioeconomic status? Findings from a field study in Ontario and Québec, Canada

OBJECTIVES

To examine, in the context of youth smoking, whether cigarette prices near secondary schools varied by area-level socioeconomic status in Southwestern and Central Ontario, and the greater Montréal region.

METHODS

We collected cigarette prices four times between 2016 and 2019 from stores near secondary schools and used mixed-effects and ordinary least squares regressions.

RESULTS

We found consistent evidence that cigarette prices near secondary schools were lower in neighbourhoods with lower area-level household income, and that differences were large enough to be meaningful. In Ontario and Québec, our results indicate a Can$0.26 [0.04, 0.47] to Can$0.51 [0.33, 0.69] and Can$0.10 [-0.04, 0.24] to Can$0.37 [0.22, 0.52] difference in prices for a pack of 25 cigarettes between neighbourhoods with a median household income standard deviation below/above the provincial median, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Policy changes that limit area-level cigarette price differences without lowering cigarette prices may reduce inequities in youth smoking.

Retail availability and legal purchases of dried flower in Canada post-legalization

OBJECTIVE

Retail availability of cannabis has the potential to influence demand for both legal and illegal cannabis. The aims of the study were to: 1) estimate the percentage of consumers who report purchasing dried flower legally; and 2) examine the association between purchasing dried flower legally and retail availability, where retail availability was represented as: a) Canadian province; b) 'objective' retail proximity; and c) self-reported retail proximity.

METHODS

Data come from Canadian respondents in Wave 2 of the International Cannabis Policy Study (ICPS) conducted one year after non-medical cannabis legalization in September-October 2019. Respondents were 18+ years in Alberta/Quebec and 19+ years elsewhere and had purchased any dried flower in the past year (n = 2506). Respondents were recruited through commercial online panels. Weighted binary logistic regression models examined likelihood of purchasing dried flower legally.

RESULTS

Overall, 47.7 % of past-year dried flower purchasers reported last purchasing dried flower legally, with variation across provinces (range = 40.5 %-81.2 %). Likelihood of purchasing dried flower legally was greater among those who lived closer to a legal retail store based on Euclidean distance (<3 km vs. > 10 km: AOR = 1.56, 95 % CI: 1.20,2.02), and who had shorter self-reported travel time to a retail store (<5 min. vs. > 15 min.: AOR = 2.24, 95 % CI: 1.56,3.21).

CONCLUSION

One year after legalization, retail availability was associated with last purchasing dried flower legally among past-year dried flower purchasers. To our knowledge, the current study is among the first to examine the legality of purchase source used for dried flower and retail availability of cannabis in Canada post-legalization.