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** 22 February 2024
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** UK
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** Tobacco tax rise likely in upcoming Budget (#1)
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** Public health at heart of spring budget, experts tell Jeremy Hunt (#2)
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** International
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** Germany legalises cannabis, but makes it hard to buy (#3)
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** Cayetano hits ‘huge’ Philippines delegation to WHO meeting (#4)
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** UK
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** Tobacco tax rise likely in upcoming Budget

The Government is set to increase tobacco duty in the upcoming Budget, i understands.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced last year that there would be a rise in tobacco duty – with hand-rolled cigarettes hit with the steepest hike.

Now it is understood Mr Hunt could impose another tax increase on smokers by ramping up duties on tobacco products in the March Budget.

Mr Hunt announced, in November, that tobacco duty would rise by 2 per cent above inflation, with the duty on hand-rolling increased by an additional 10 per cent, to 12 per cent above inflation.It came on top of an earlier jump in duty in March 2023.

The autumn changes were projected to generate an additional income of £40m in 2023/24 and £85m in 2024/25, according to Treasury figures.

Increases to tobacco duties – usually calculated at 2 per cent above inflation – is a tool used by the Government to reduce the number of people smoking as well as ensuring greater contribution to the exchequer.

It comes amid Rishi Sunak’s efforts to clamp down on smoking with plans to effectively introduce a ban for future generations.

Mr Sunak has announced a new law which, the Government said, would stop children born before 2009 from ever being able to smoke.

This has the potential to phase out smoking in young people almost completely as early as 2040.

Source: The i, 26 February 2024

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** Public health at heart of spring budget, experts tell Jeremy Hunt

Sixty of the country’s most senior health experts have written to the chancellor urging him to put tackling obesity and other public health issues at the heart of his budget for the sake of the economy.

In their letter to Jeremy Hunt the coalition of doctors, scientists, charity bosses and food campaigners say poor health is “one of the greatest threats” facing Britain today. They warn it is damaging the economy “from the size and strength of our labour market, to productivity, to growth and GDP”.

Pointing to data from the Office for National Statistics showing that 2.8 million people are out of the labour market because of long-term sickness, the experts argue that the UK’s “poor track record on preventing ill health” is a major factor undermining the country’s prosperity.

The vast majority of health conditions contributing to economic problems “are driven by poor diets, alcohol and tobacco,” they say, adding: “Recent rises in gambling and online harm are implicated in worsening mental health: the leading barrier to economic participation among those under 44 years old.”

The experts urge the chancellor to issue a formal call for evidence on financial and non-financial policy options that could improve public health as part of next month’s budget.

Almost a third of British adults are obese and a quarter of children are obese or overweight by the time they start school.

Over the past 30 years the proportion of people who are obese — those with a body mass index of 30 or above — has doubled. As a result Britain has some of the highest rates of preventable disease in the world, including heart disease, diabetes, cancers and dementia.

YouGov polling found strong public support for greater state intervention to promote healthier lifestyles. Almost three times as many people thought the government should be doing more to encourage people to eat healthy diets as believed the government was doing too much.

Chris Thomas, head of the IPPR’s commission on health and prosperity, said: “The UK has become the literal sick man of Europe. This is harming people’s job prospects and wages — and in turn, harming our economic performance.

“The spring budget is an opportunity for the chancellor to go big on public health; decisively tackle crises like obesity, alcohol, smoking and mouldy homes; and chart an innovative new path to prosperity.”

Source: The Times, 25 February 2024

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** See also: Read the full letter and list of signatories here: Health leaders, charities, experts and campaigners urge Chancellor to take action on ‘concerning’ state of UK health to deliver prosperity at Spring Budget ([link removed])
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** International
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** Germany legalises cannabis, but makes it hard to buy

The German parliament has backed a new law to allow the recreational use of cannabis.

Under the law, over-18s in Germany will be allowed to possess substantial amounts of cannabis, but strict rules will make it difficult to buy the drug.

Smoking cannabis in many public spaces will become legal from 1 April.

Possession of up to 25g, equivalent to dozens of strong joints, is to be allowed in public spaces. In private homes the legal limit will be 50g.

Already police in some parts of Germany, such as Berlin, often turn a blind eye to smoking in public, although possession of the drug for recreational use is illegal and can be prosecuted. Use of the drug among young people has been soaring for years despite the existing law, says Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who is instigating the reforms.

He wants to undermine the black market, protect smokers from contaminated cannabis and cut revenue streams for organised crime gangs.

But legal cannabis cafes will not suddenly spring up all over the country. Smoking cannabis in some areas, such as near schools and sports grounds, will still be illegal. Crucially, the market will be strictly regulated so buying the drug will not be easy.
Original plans to allow licensed shops and pharmacies to sell cannabis have been scrapped over EU concerns that this could lead to a surge in drug exports.

Instead, non-commercial members' clubs, dubbed "cannabis social clubs", will grow and distribute a limited amount of the drug. Each club will have an upper limit of 500 members, consuming cannabis onsite will not be allowed, and membership will only be available to German residents.

Growing your own cannabis will also be permitted, with up to three marijuana plants allowed per household.

Regular smokers would benefit, but occasional users would struggle to buy it legally and tourists would be excluded. Critics say this will simply fuel the black market.

Source: BBC News, 24 February 2024
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** Senator criticises ‘huge’ Philippines delegation to WHO meeting

Sen. Pia Cayetano scorned the Philippines’ “huge” delegation to a World Health Organization (WHO) tobacco control conference, where, instead of getting recognized for cracking down on smoking, the country was publicly shamed with its fifth “Dirty Ashtray” award.

The “Dirty Ashtray Award” is a well-known publicly recognized award to call out those influenced by lobbying from the tobacco industry.

Cayetano, who presided over the dishonourable award, said the Philippines sent the “biggest delegation” of 34 led by Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Hubert Dominic Guevara.

“Why would we want our Philippine delegation associated with a ‘dirty ashtray’ award? Why would we want to be known as succumbing to the lobby of the tobacco industry?” she added.

The Philippine delegation was given the “award” by civic watchdog Global Alliance for Tobacco Control for allegedly blocking the consensus on mandating the disclosure of the toxic contents of tobacco products during the Conference of Parties (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Panama City last Feb. 5-10.

The Philippines proposed a “compromise option” that “further muddled the discussion and caused more delay,” according to the group Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance.

Meanwhile, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano criticised the country’s “balanced approach” which attempts to call on the public to quit smoking whilst still protecting the livelihood of tobacco farmers.

In response to the issue of protecting the livelihood of tobacco farmers, National Tobacco Administration chief Belinda Sanchez said that while 20,000 families in the Philippines earn 50,000 peso a year tobacco farming, the tobacco industry makes an annual profit of 160 billion peso annually.

“Let’s not say we are protecting the tobacco farmers here. Only 1 billion peso goes to the farmers (globally) but 159 billion peso goes to the tobacco capitalists,” Cayetano said. Concluding that the Philippines presents itself as anti-tobacco, but is in fact pro-tobacco.

Source: The Phil Star, 23 February 2024
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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