US cigarette sales drop to 55-year low

Reuters reports:

The number of cigarettes sold in the United States in 2005 fell to the lowest level in 55 years largely due to enforcement of marketing restrictions imposed on the tobacco industry, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) said on Wednesday.


According to federal tobacco tax figures, cigarettes sales slid 4.2 percent from 2004 levels in the largest one-year percentage decrease since 1999, the group said in a statement.

The attorneys general said 378 billion cigarettes were sold in the United States in 2005, the lowest number since 1951.

With the recent higher taxes,one wonders how the real tobacco addicts(state and local government) are going to get along with less revenue over time.The law of diminishing returns does apply to tobacco taxes.