Editorial: Get serious about not smoking

OPINION: It's probably the epitome of hypocrisy. The New Zealand Government earns billions of dollars every year from taxes on tobacco products. About 80 per cent of the price of a packet of cigarettes consists of taxation, which earned the Government $963 million in 2008.

The Government then spends millions of dollars on advertising campaigns aimed at encouraging smokers to quit, while at the same time complaining about how many millions of dollars smokers are costing the health system.

Smoking kills 5000 New Zealanders every year. That's a lot of people for a country our size to lose every year to a leisure activity.

Imagine if someone had to come up with a new activity and try to pitch it to the Government with the assurance that it would kill only 5000 New Zealanders every year. It's safe to assume the response would not be in the affirmative.

A new study has found that half the nation supports a ban on cigarette sales within 10 years. The study, which includes smokers, found 49.8 per cent of people agreed cigarettes should no longer be sold in New Zealand in 10 years, 30.3 per cent disagreed and 19.9 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed. Of the smokers surveyed, 26.2 per cent agreed and 55.3 per cent disagreed. The study also showed public support for plain, unbranded cigarette packets and fewer tobacco retailers.

One of the study's authors says Government needs to take action. There is a need for politicians to embrace and act on the idea of a foreseeable and planned end to tobacco sales.

Evidence shows the most effective way to stop people smoking is to increase the price of cigarettes. This is something the Maori Party would like to see and it is lobbying for an increase in tobacco excise.

It is understandable that the Maori Party wants action as smoking is still more prevalent among Maori than any other ethnic group in New Zealand. Nationally 45.4 per cent of Maori adults identify as being current smokers – more than double the smoking rate of non-Maori. Tobacco smoking is a leading cause of preventable death for Maori in New Zealand with about 800 Maori dying every year of different smoking-related diseases.

Giving smokers 10 years to wean themselves off the habit seems like a reasonable idea and if Government really is concerned about the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders it will give the report – and all its recommendation – serious consideration.

In the interim Government should be doing all it can to help smokers who really want to quit. Subsidised smoking patches are a good start but there is a lot more that can and should be done.

- The Marlborough Express

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