Plunk down a pack of cigarettes at the cash register and be prepared to pay up, way up. As of April 1, Californians are forking over an extra $2 per pack.
Some smokers this past week said they were stocking up on cartons, ahead of Saturday’s price hike. Others said it’s jolting them into finally snuffing out cigarettes for good.
“Absolutely, I’m quitting. I refuse to pay it,” said Citrus Heights resident Heather Jarrett, a smoker for 21 years, who said the new tax will mean an extra $120 a month to cover her and her husband’s nicotine habit. “It’s not a small amount.”
One of her fellow Sacramento County co-workers, Caitlin Holloway, said she’s on her last carton of cigarettes, vowing to snuff out her habit completely due to the cost. “I cannot do the extra $2 a pack. It’s too much of a financial burden as a single parent. … It’s a really good motivation to quit.”
That was one of the primary aims of Proposition 56, passed by statewide voters in November, marking the first time in more than 20 years that California approved significant tobacco control legislation. Also last year, state lawmakers raised the age from 18 to 21 to purchase tobacco products, tightened loopholes on workplace smoking bans and made K-12 campuses completely smoke-free. And for the first time, California tobacco laws included electronic cigarettes, which have become increasingly popular, especially among teens and young adults.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article142084974.html
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