Smokers in England now less motivated to quit, RYO use increases: study

Smokers are now less inclined to try to stop smoking than a decade ago, a new study finds.

The ten-year study of 41,610 smokers in England has also found that smokers today show fewer signs of dependence.

The study published in the journal Addiction also reveals a dramatic increase in the proportion of those smoking roll-your-own cigarettes, from 35.3 percent in 2008 to 50.7 percent in 2017.

Nearly one-fifth of the respondents (18.7%) said they use e-cigarettes.

The proportion who are trying to cut down how much they smoke has declined from 56.1 percent to 47.9 percent, and the number of smokers who tried to stop smoking in the past year has declined from 37 percent to 29.9 percent.

“The decline in the proportion of smokers trying to quit or cut down is a worrying trend and may reflect budget cuts on tobacco control, including mass media expenditure and stop smoking services,” commented Dr Claire Garnett of the UCL Department of Behavioural Science & Health, the lead author of the study.

The researchers said smokers now consume fewer cigarettes per day, at an average of 10.9 in 2017 compared with 13.6 in 2008, and fewer of them smoke within an hour of waking up each day.

The proportion who do not smoke every day has gone up from 9.1 percent to 13.4 percent.

These findings of less dependence are interesting in the backdrop of a popularly held view that the declining prevalence rates will result in remaining smokers becoming more dependent.