NBC - The price of cigarettes in the Chicago area may just blow you away.
Thanks to a new cigarette tax in Cook County, a pack of cigarettes can now cost up to $11.
That's as the county added an additional $1 to the cigarette tax, bringing it to $6.67.
It's now the highest tax, even above New York City.
The tax increase could bring in an additional $25 million to Cook County, some of which will go to hospitals and anti-smoking programs.
But the county board president says the increase isn't about more money it's a public health initiative.
"There are a significant number of young people who will not start smoking as a result of the increase in the cigarette tax - that's the first, and in my view, primary reason. So they'll avoid a lifetime of addiction,"
Toni Preckwinkle, Cook Co. Board President said.
Many Chicagoans are already crossing the border and buying their cigarettes in Indiana instead.
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