Between March 27 and August 17, the government banned the sale of tobacco products in SA. It’s a move that has had some positive long-term health consequences — but it has also come at a very high economic cost. For one, the sales ban didn’t prevent many smokers from purchasing cigarettes on the illicit market.

These are some of the findings from wave 3 of the Nids-Cram survey, conducted among a broadly representative sample of South Africans in November and December 2020. The survey focused on cigarette smoking; the use of other tobacco products and nicotine delivery devices was not included...

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