Researchers from Curtin University have found increasing cigarette prices in recent years have seen older Australians turning to cannabis as an alternative.
The team from Curtin’s School of Accounting, Economics and Finance investigated the buying habits of nearly 100,000 Australians from 2001 to 2019 by analysing data from the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey.
They found that when cigarette prices increased, cannabis use decreased in Australians under 40, and remained unchanged for those aged between 40 and 50. However, it increased among people aged 50 and above.
Study author Professor Mark Harris said the results were surprising given that cannabis and tobacco are generally consumed at the same time.
“In economic terms, if they’re consumed together and it becomes more expensive to buy tobacco, you’d expect cannabis consumption to also fall,” he said.
“But what we’ve found is the relationships between the drugs, and the way people use them, potentially changes with the age of a consumer: cannabis can change from a complement of tobacco, to a replacement.”
As part of the study, researchers ran a simulation of what would happen if tobacco prices rose by 10 per cent through higher taxes or other means.
They found 68,000 people aged over 50 would start using cannabis in response, whether increasing existing use or choosing to try the substance for the first time as a tobacco substitute.
Co-author Dr Ranjodh Singh said applying consumer behaviour research could help create effective health promotion strategies.
“In economics, we have this idea that people behave rationally, that we act according to price. But different segments of the population will respond differently to price increases, that’s why we use the term ‘life-cycle approach’ when looking at consumption.
“So on average, increasing tobacco prices makes cannabis use go down – but the opposite is true for this particular age group.
“This shows applying blanket policies for everybody may not be the best way to improve outcomes across all demographics,” Dr Singh added.
