Social Costs of Smoking

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Smoking is blamed by some for imposing substantial 'costs' on society. Some consider that smoking leads to diminished productivity and increased healthcare costs. But do these accusations bear close scrutiny?

It has not been convincingly demonstrated that smokers incur above-average health care costs. Most attempts to make these calculations are based on flawed hypotheses. People incur above-average health care costs for all sorts of reasons, including poor dietary habits, failure to exercise and hereditary factors and it would set a dangerous precedent to single out smokers as any different.

People miss work for all sorts of reasons - visits to the dentist or doctor, holidays, going to see a child's school play - these activities could hardly be said to levy a 'cost' on society. It has not been convincingly demonstrated that smokers miss more work than non-smokers due to their smoking. In fact, some studies in the United States have reported that among professional workers, smokers tended to be more productive than non-smokers. Research also acknowledges that absenteeism cannot be exclusively linked to smoking, factors like the nature of work itself, socioeconomic status and alcohol consumption could well contribute.

Moreover, smokers pay substantial taxes. In fact, many reviews have concluded that smokers actually contribute more than they cost.