text: Cigarette price hike risks black market - PM 
   
   By Adam Ray 
   
   The Prime Minister says a huge hike in the cost of cigarettes could encourage a black market for smokers. 
   
   3 News revealed yesterday that Health Ministry officials think cigarettes need to cost $100 a packet to make New Zealand smoke-free. 
   
   But Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia says she has a whatever-it-takes attitude to the idea. 
   
   Felix Five would love to quit, but struggles because he's addicted. He says pumping up the cost of cigarettes won't stop smokers. 
   
   “People still use heroin,” says the smoker. “It is expensive, cocaine is expensive. So I don't think people will stop smoking.” 
   
   A Health Ministry paper obtained by 3 News says drastic measures are needed to meet the Government's aim for New Zealand to be smoke-free by 2025. 
   
   One proposal is for prices to increase by around a third every year to reach $100 a packet within eight years. 
   
   But officials said one shock increase followed by smaller increases is more reasonable. 
   
   John Key says the Government is looking at a range of policies to stop smoking and huge price hikes could fuel black market trading. 
   
   “Whether that would be sustainable in terms of the black market, I don't know,” says John Key. “It seems like a big step.” 
   
   The Health Ministry says the discussion paper may be used to give advice to Government. 
   
   3 News asked Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia if she supported the idea of making cigarettes $100 a packet. 
   
   She gave a simple answer: whatever it takes. 
   
   3 News ||||| Pack Of Cigarettes 'May Rise To $100' In NZ 
   
   The price of a packet of cigarettes is set to rise significantly as New Zealand looks to stamp out smoking 
   
   The cost of a packet of cigarettes in New Zealand could rise to as much as $100 dollars - around £50 - by 2020 amid moves to stamp out smoking. 
   
   The Ministry of Health wants New Zealand to be smoke free by 2025 and the suggested increase gives the first hint of the drastic measures being discussed. 
   
   A document released under the Official Information Act to the country's 3 News website features a number of pricing scenarios - with the most extreme showing a single cigarette costing the equivalent of £2.50. 
   
   One option being considered is a 10% increase on a pack of 20 cigarettes year-on-year from 2013 to 2025, meaning it would cost $40 (£20) a pack by 2024. 
   
   But a second scenario would see packs at $100 each by 2020, achieved by an immediate shock rise of 30% to 60%, with on-going increases of 30% each year after that. 
   
   New Zealand aims to be smoke free by 2025 
   
   This model would reach the 2025 target to stamp out smoking completely, but is described in the paper as "probably unrealistic". 
   
   The most likely model would see a shock tax increase next year, and then a 10%-a-year rise, which would mean a packet of cigarettes costs around $60 (£30) by 2025. 
   
   Other ideas discussed in the document include regulating tobacco as a highly toxic substance, a ban on smoking in cars with children, a doubling of anti-smoking media campaigns and removing tobacco from duty-free sale. 
   
   The briefing paper said: "If we are to continue to lower smoking prevalence we need to both increase the numbers who successfully quit smoking, and reduce smoking initiation among young people. 
   
   "Tobacco taxation is the single most effective intervention available to drive down smoking prevalence figures." 
   
   The Ministry of Health has said that the paper is an internal policy discussion and does not represent Government policy.
target: – While the US has been trying to disgust smokers into giving up tobacco, New Zealand has been considering a more direct idea: raising the price of cigarettes to $100 a pack. The Ministry of Health wants a smoke-free NZ by 2025, and the $100 price tag—which would be implemented by 2020—is one of the ideas being discussed … although officials admit it is "probably unrealistic." The plan seen as the most likely would make a pack of cigarettes a still-sizable $60 by 2025, Sky News reports. But, 3 News adds, Prime Minister John Key is concerned that higher prices may simply encourage a black market.