Jan 02, 2014 01:04 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Some researchers believe they have the answer to drastically reduce smoking and premature deaths from related diseases worldwide: triple tobacco taxes.

According to a review published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, a tax increase that high would double current prices of tobacco products. The price spike would also be enough to get smokers to stop and discourage young people from starting, the researchers said.

Reported in a press release, the researchers argued that tripling tobacco tax would lessen the gap between the cheapest pack of cigarettes and the most expensive. This would encourage smokers to quit rather than committing to buy a less expensive pack of cigarettes.

The researchers also argued that this method would be effective across the globe in rich, poor and middle-class economies. In France, tobacco use has dropped by half from 1990 to 2005 due to tax rising above inflation, noted Dr. Prabhat Jha, director of the Centre for Global Health Research of St. Michael's Hospital.

"Death and taxes are inevitable, but they don't need to be in that order," he said in the release. "A higher tax on tobacco is the single most effective intervention to lower smoking rates and to deter future smokers."

Dr, Jha and study co-author Sir Richard Peto, of the University of Oxford, said the harsh increase on tobacco tax would reduce the amount of smokers by one-third, preventing an estimated 200 million premature deaths caused by lung cancer and other related illnesses.

"So there's an urgent need for governments to find ways to stop people starting and to help smokers give up," Sir Richard said in the release. "This study demonstrates that tobacco taxes are a hugely powerful lever and potentially a triple win - reducing the numbers of people who smoke and who die from their addiction, reducing premature deaths from smoking and yet, at the same time, increasing government income."

The study also said the price increase would generate an additional $100 billion, wich the researchers suggested using for healthcare.

"All governments can take action by regularly raising tobacco taxes above inflation, and using occasional steep tax hikes starting with their next budget," Sir Richard said. "Young adult smokers will lose about a decade of life if they continue to smoke - they've so much to gain by stopping."

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