News in Brief

80% of Americans Support Cannabis Secure Labelling

A new nationwide study among 2,000 US adults, commissioned by SICPA North America and conducted online by the Harris Poll, shows broad support for securely labelling cannabis products to verify their legitimacy and safety in the marketplace.

A majority of Americans (83%) believe that states where cannabis is legal should require licensed cannabis producers to use secure labels that can’t be counterfeited on their products. And four in five Americans (80%) voiced their support for a programme that would make it easier to detect legal versus illegal cannabis products.

In fact, many Americans would be willing to pay more for products they know they can trust. Two-thirds of Americans (67%) said if they were to purchase cannabis, they would pay more for cannabis products if they had a secure label that designated them as being from a licensed provider that adheres to safety and legal standards.

Medical cannabis programmes have been adopted by nearly 40 states and an increasing number of states are also enabling recreational or adult use programmes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that in 2019, 18% of the US population (48 million people) consumed cannabis at least once.

Latest on Tobacco Control in Africa

A recent article by Corné van Walbeek and Zunda Chisha from the University of Cape Town* – originally published on The Conversation academic and research news site – warns that ‘rapid population growth, increased advertising by the tobacco industry, and growing tobacco consumption among young people in Africa all contribute to a projected massive tobacco-related burden of disease. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that one in five African adolescents use tobacco’.

The article advises that among the efforts being deployed in Africa to address growing consumption levels is the establishment of the Africa Conference on Tobacco Control and Development, which took place for the first time on 26-28 October and which is planned to be held every four years. The conference will be the main forum for tobacco control actors and advocates to raise the profile of tobacco control measures in Africa.

Van Walbeek and Chisha contributed to the conference with their work on the economic impacts of tobacco use.

‘Many African countries have indicated that they want to adopt tobacco control policies. Of the 54 countries in Africa, 51 have ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – Malawi, South Sudan and Eritrea have not. By ratifying the convention, countries commit to adopting effective and evidence-based measures to curb tobacco consumption,’ they advised.

‘In 2018 the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products came into force. Countries that ratify the Protocol commit themselves to adopting a variety of measures, such as using track and trace systems to prevent and counter illicit trade. Currently, 27 African countries have ratified the Protocol, the highest proportion of any continent. A number of countries have already implemented some of the measures suggested in the Protocol.’

The authors continued: ‘raising excise taxes is the most effective measure to reduce smoking. Studies around the world show that excise taxes that effectively raise the price of tobacco products almost always result in a decline in smoking. The structure of the excise tax is important. In general, a specific tax (an amount of tax per cigarette, irrespective of value) is better than an ad valorem tax (a percentage of the product’s value). Simpler tax systems are better than complex ones.

‘Despite the progress made in many countries, many challenges remain. One is the slow adoption of recommended tobacco tax policies,’ they warned.

‘Most African countries have excise tax systems that are generally regarded as sub-optimal. This is because the tax systems are usually ad valorem, tiered, or both. These factors dampen the influence of excise taxes on the price of cigarettes. It is thus unsurprising that cigarettes are relatively cheap in most African countries. In fact, the excise tax, expressed as a percentage of the average retail price, is lower in Africa than on any other continent in the world. On average, this figure stands at 28.6% in Africa, 35.4% in South America and 37.3% in Asia.’

The full report is available at https://theconversation.com/we-unpack-whatsome-african-countries-are-doing-abouttobacco-control-169842.

* Corné van Walbeek, Professor at the School of Economics and Principal Investigator of the Economics of Tobacco Control Project, University of Cape Town, and Zunda Chisha, Research Officer, Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products, University of Cape Town.

Advanced Track & Trace Appoints New CEO

Advanced Track & Trace® (ATT) and its reference shareholder, Capital Croissance, have appointed Jérôme Pichot as Chief Executive Officer.

Jérôme has extensive experience in the company’s key markets, such as brand, identity and banknote protection. He began his career with Legrand, then moved to Arjowiggins where he held various managerial positions in luxury packaging and the security division. Since 2016, he has led product development for tax stamps and brand protection at De La Rue, and most recently was Global Sales Director for the brand protection business.

Jérôme will succeed Jean-Pierre Massicot, founder and current CEO of the company, who will remain with ATT in an advisory role. Jérôme’s mission will be to guide the development of ATT, in particular its expansion to new territories, in the core areas of brand protection and traceability of products and security documents. ATT is a rapidly developing leader in the product connectivity market via unique codes that allow objects to be authenticated and traced throughout the supply chain