Yesterday was World No Tobacco Day. In this edition, we provide the latest on what the EU – and Malta – are doing to try and dissuade people from taking up the habit, as well as what you can do to kick it.

We also publish an interview with a person who ahs to undergo heart surgery. He explained how close relatives of his died due to smoking related illnesses, and after a 45-year habit, he too has to quit, if he wants to live.

The statistics are indeed incredible. Smoking, and smoking related diseases are by far the biggest killers of people. The numbers speak for themselves, one in four cancer deaths in the EU are caused by smoking. Each cigarette shortens your lifespan by 11 minutes. From an economic point of view, tobacco related diseases cost the EU €100 billion per year – to put that into perspective, that is one percent of the European Union’s Gross Domestic Product.

Surveys have shown that 69% of smokers want to quit, but many are unsuccessful. Just last week, this newspaper followed up on a story, where it was said that smoking inspections and summons issues have increased in the first few months of this year. But through a leading article, we argued that people can smoke virtually anywhere with impunity. Bars, clubs, public places... it is tolerated and sometimes even passively encouraged through people being provided with actual or makeshift ashtrays inside establishments.

A simple cursory walk around an entertainment establishment shows that this is the status quo. Australia recently introduced bland and plan packaging, also locking cigarettes away in cabinets and the move has produced quite good results. Some European countries have also followed suit in putting the cigarettes where they cannot be seen. But we have not yet introduced the plain packaging.

What, however, people do not talk about is the fact that taxes on cigarettes in Australia are absolutely astronomical. A packed of 20 costs about €22 dollars – about €15 or more. Unfortunately, there are people who are addicted smokers. Some will never kick the habit. And while plain packaging and support lines and other deterrents all help, nothing is quite as effective as hitting people where it hurts – their pockets.

The only way to have a solid deterrent that works is to hike the taxes of cigarettes to levels which make them unaffordable. No doubt, the tobacco lobby will argue that doing that will increase the incidence of ‘fake’ cigarettes which are even more harmful. That may be true, and that is where the authorities must then crack down to ensure that no black market tobacco makes it into circulation. Also, we such claims must also be taken in context of the fact that even ‘branded’ cigarettes contain up to 70 carcinogenic chemicals. There is no such thing as a safe cigarette. The fact of the matter is that cigarettes kill. They take away loved ones, and they also put a strain on existing and future health systems.

Ideally, people should not smoke at all. But for those that do, the first step is to change your lifestyle. Exercise and health eating encourages a better lifestyle and this automatically encourages people to kick the habit. But above all, as our interviewee explains on the next page, the only real way to kick the habit is to have a real desire to do so. Without this, then the smoker will relapse.