Cigarette tax prompts quiting

Andrew S. Garib, METRO New York | Link | PDF | Smokers are asking the city for help quitting at three times last year’s rate since New York’s hike in cigarette taxes took effect, the Health Department said.

The number of calls to the city’s 311 information hot line asking for help to quit smoking skyrocketed to 2,700 during the week starting June 2 when the new taxes kicked in and raised the price up to $10 a pack at some Gotham locations. That’s compared to 850 calls in the same period last year.

“There’s never been a better time to quit,” city Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden said Thursday. “Quitting is the single most important thing you can do to have a healthier life.”

The city’s anti-cigarette campaign told smokers a pack-a-day habit could cost as much as $3,000 a year in the city, which has the highest cigarette prices in the nation. But the department says the prices — and numbers — speak for themselves: State tax increases in 2002 resulted in a 21 percent drop in adult smoking and a 52 percent drop in public high school students, they said. End.