Australians are spending less to consume more nicotine as illegal tobacco trade explodes
Australians are increasingly consuming nicotine while spending less, driven by a surge in illegal tobacco use. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that illicit sources accounted for 80% of tobacco consumed in 2025, up from 12% in 2017. The rise in illegal tobacco has led to a significant drop in household spending on cigarettes, despite rising prices for legal products.
- ▪Nicotine consumption in Australia rose by 40% from 2017 to 2025.
- ▪80% of all tobacco consumed in Australia in 2025 was from illegal sources.
- ▪Household spending on cigarettes has dropped to levels similar to 2016, despite a tripling of legal cigarette prices.
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| Original publisher | World news | The Guardian |
| Canonical URL | https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/03/illegal-tobacco-news-australia-spending-less-to-consume-more-nicotine |
| Publication time | Wed, 03 Jun 2026 06:11:45 GMT |
| Retrieval time | 2026-06-03T06:26:57.143Z |
| Last seen | 2026-06-03T06:35:53.880Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | xUAr8Di0XEHv |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
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| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
In 2017, only 12% of the total tobacco consumed was from illicit sources. By 2025, that had risen to 80%. Photograph: Jenny Kane/APView image in fullscreenIn 2017, only 12% of the total tobacco consumed was from illicit sources. By 2025, that had risen to 80%. Photograph: Jenny Kane/APHealthAustralians are spending less to consume more nicotine as illegal tobacco trade explodesAustralian Bureau of Statistics estimates nicotine consumption rose 40%, with illicit sources accounting for 80% of all tobacco Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Jordyn BeazleyWed 3 Jun 2026 02.11 EDTLast modified on Wed 3 Jun 2026 02.13 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleAustralians are consuming more nicotine than they were eight…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at World news | The Guardian.
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