JUNEAU — The price of a pack of cigarettes in Juneau could increase if the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly raises the tax on them and other tobacco products, the Juneau Empire reports.

The assembly, acting as its Committee of the Whole, unanimously forwarded the idea of an increased excise tax on tobacco to its Finance Committee, after hearing a presentation on the benefits of a higher tax from Kristin Cox, a doctor at Rainforest Naturopathic Medicine, and Matt Felix, former executive director of Juneau’s National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

Cox said in her presentation a 20 percent increase in cost cuts tobacco use by 10 percent, and causes a significant drop in youth use.