France to quit making cigarettes as last factory prepares to close The last remaining factory making cigarettes in France is set to close by the end of 2023, the site’s owner told its employees this week.
Issued on: 01/10/2023 - 09:08
The Manufacture Corse des Tabacs (Macotab), on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, is the last to manufacture cigarettes in France since the closure of another in the centre of the country in 2016.
Around 30 employees work at the Corsican site, down from 143 in the early 1980s.
The factory makes cigarettes on behalf of industry giant Philip Morris, which recently signalled it was ending the contract.
Contraband packets have also cut into legal sales, according to the factory’s owner Seita, the former French state-owned tobacco monopoly that is now part of the British company Imperial Tobacco.
Seita had already closed France’s last tobacco processing factory in 2019, in the traditional growing region of the Dordogne in the south-west.
Some former factories in Marseille and Lyon have found new as cultural and exhibition spaces, or even a university.
Kicking the habit Efforts by authorities to curb smoking and its health hazards, not least by prohibiting puffing in restaurants and cafes and banning ads for cigarettes, have prompted sharp reductions in cigarette sales in recent years.
Smoking remains the main cause of avoidable deaths in France, according to Santé Publique France health agency, which estimates 75,000 tobacco deaths each year.
The bulk of European production these days is in Germany and Poland.
That’s an interesting video. I’m glad to see that the combustion/vaping difference is as wide as I assumed it would be.
On the addiction side, I feel like it’s something you can get addicted to in the same way that you could get addicted to gaming or potato chips. You can mess your life up by having bad priorities when it comes to anything fun.
As far as chemical dependency, I think it’s pretty well known that it’s nothing close to harder drugs. The little leaflets they give out with the medical cannabis here do warn of withdrawals after stopping, along with side effects etc. it can certainly be “habit forming” for me just in the sense that it helps me feel so much better and I want to keep that going. But I have also just stopped using it for weeks (travel) or months (job search) and there were no issues at all.
The addictive properties of THC are worth questioning wether it’s actually addictive or if certain people are susceptible to patterns of behaviour.
Someone with ADHD could latch onto it as a behavioural pattern because it’s helping them focus and relax. Like caffeine in that sense, but caf’ is actually addictive.
I enjoy the habbit as well, but I’ve also never experienced withdrawal or issues while stopping weed and I’ve managed to stop abruptly as a documented experiment.
The point you made about ADHD rings true to me. It’s definitely a behavioral pattern for me, but one that’s kind of nice.
I have also stopped for extended periods without issue. Maybe I feel a little worse for a day or two if I’ve gotten used to daily usage. The only issue I watch is that even though it helps me relax and get to sleep, it either affects my quality of sleep or just makes me need more of it. I can feel a bit hung over from it at times. But it’s really not that bad and I only sometimes avoid it late in the day.
Cannabis is great for getting to sleep, but there can be conflicts of interest per say. I like the sources on this for understanding: [https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-aids/cannabis-and-sleep]
I highly recommend a deep dive into cannabis, it’s a fascinating rabbit hole of information that reveals more about us than the chems. Especially the lore!
