Survey: Almost half of Lithuanian smokers have tried contraband cigarettes at least once

 

“About one in five residents (22%) smoke in Lithuania, and almost half of smokers (47%) have tried contraband cigarettes at least once, according to the latest survey by the company “Spinter tyrimai”.

 

According to Ignas Zokas, head of “Spinter tyrimai”, despite the damage to the economy and the loss of state revenue due to contraband, the majority of those surveyed do not condemn smokers of contraband cigarettes.

 

“Although it is recognized that cigarette smuggling causes the state to lose revenue and criminal structures to profit, and the damage to the Lithuanian economy is understood as high or medium, the country’s residents are in no hurry to condemn smokers of contraband cigarettes,” said I. Zokas.

 

“The prevailing view is that such products are chosen by people for whom buying legal cigarettes is too expensive,” he added.

 

20% of respondents said they smoke contraband cigarettes very rarely, 18% – sometimes, and 9% – regularly, while women and participants with the highest education and highest incomes were more likely to say they never smoked them (53%).

 

According to the survey, non-smokers most often cited contraband because they doubted its quality (51%). Others said they did not know where or how to purchase such cigarettes (37%) or avoided them because they were illegal (36%). In addition, some respondents said they did not want to support the economies of unfriendly countries (22%) or were afraid of possible fines for purchasing contraband (20%).

 

According to the Spinter survey, most respondents believe that cigarette smuggling causes damage to the Lithuanian economy: 42% assess it as significant, 35% - medium.

 

“To achieve a breakthrough in public consciousness, complex solutions are needed: education and explanation for the public, punishments for smugglers, fines for those who buy such products, but also more affordable products at least in the cheapest product category,” said I. Zokas.

 

According to the respondents, in order to reduce the illegal market, the most important thing is not to reduce or at least not increase taxes on legal cigarettes (58%) and to tighten penalties for smugglers (54%). It is also proposed to educate the public more about the harm of smuggling (38%).

 

More than half (60%) of those surveyed consider the greatest harm of cigarette smuggling to be the loss of state revenue, 57% - that criminal structures profit from smuggling, 51% - that it encourages corruption. Almost half of the respondents note the involvement of vulnerable people in illegal activities (46%) and the profiteering of unfriendly states (41%).

 

The survey showed that the prevalence of smuggled cigarettes in Lithuania is most often determined by large price differences with Belarus and Russia (74%).

 

More than half of the respondents point to the government's inability to curb smuggling (52%), two out of five distinguish high tolerance of people for such products (40%), and 16% associate its prevalence with the historical and cultural proximity of the border regions of Lithuania to Belarus.

 

The public survey was conducted on November 17–28 by the market and public opinion research company Spinter tyrimai, commissioned by the organization "Stiprūs kartu", which surveyed 1,016 people.”

 

The fact that post-Soviet Lithuanians do not trust the government and surveys, and that the majority smoke contraband, is of no concern to anyone.