At the recent FCTC COP9, delegates reported that the number of global tobacco consumers fell from 1.32 billion in 2015 to 1.3 billion in 2020, and is expected to drop to 1.27 billion by 2025 if the current trend persists. The WHO insists that its guidelines, which include increased tobacco taxes, are behind the decreasing smoking rates. In fact, said a recently released WHO report, 60 countries are now set to meet the global target of decreasing tobacco use by 30% between 2010 and 2025—up from 32 countries in 2019. The science on tobacco taxes Meanwhile, a recent study published in the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, looking at the effects of traditional cigarette and e-cigarette tax rates ... [Read more]