THEY cost up to $20 a packet, carry stomach-churning health
warnings and have become so socially unpalatable, retailers are
forced to keep them under the counter.  So, in a country with
some of the world's toughest tobacco laws, who still smokes
cigarettes? And with 40 years of quit campaigns highlighting the
catastrophic health risks, why do they continue to light up?
Australian adult smoking rates are at an all-time low of around
17 per cent, down from 34 per cent in 1980, making our success
in tobacco reform the envy of the world.  But it has left some
public health experts wondering if they've achieved all they can
in the fight to stub out smoking. Those who still smoke, they
say, are predominantly either young experimenters or the
severely addicted.  "There's a small percentage of people who
have decided, 'well bugger it, I enjoy it, I'm going to take the
risk and hope all those terrible things don't happen to me' but
they're a pretty small minority. Most people are pretty heavily
addicted. They are gen