New Zealand introduces smoking ban | Abroad

In this way, New Zealand is slowly but surely moving towards a total smoking ban. However, the measure should already have an effect in the shorter term. The government wants only 5% of New Zealanders to smoke by 2025. Now it is about 10 percent.

excise

Minister of Health Dr. Ayesha Verrall thinks this prelude to a total smoking ban is the only way to get her compatriots to quit smoking. Raising excise duties even further than has been done in recent years would no longer have any effect, the minister suspects.

Verrall: “It’s already so hard to quit and if we did, it feels like we’d be punishing those who are addicted to cigarettes even more.” Raising the price of smoking products with the help of taxes is also particularly hard on people with lower incomes, according to the minister.

‘Arms’

Electronic cigarettes are still allowed. According to Verrall, these are “a particularly good tool to help with smoking cessation.” The minister will, however, keep a close eye on the development that more and more young people are ‘vaping’. Although electronic cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco, they are certainly not without risks. There is now a minimum age of 18 for ‘vaping’, but the minister may take more measures if there is reason to do so.

Doctors in particular react enthusiastically to Verrall’s approach. Yet there is also criticism, especially from traders who sell smoking products. In New Zealand these are mainly the so-called dairies, small groceries.

tradespeople

Industry Association President Sunny Kaushal says “this is not the way” to get New Zealanders to quit smoking: “We all want a smoke-free New Zealand, but this is going to have a huge impact on retail traders. It should not be done in such a way that dairies, lives and families are destroyed.”

Kaushal points out that there is already a huge black market for tobacco products and that it will only grow if a blanket smoking ban is implemented. She characterizes the ban as heavenly cycling by academics who have not consulted everyone involved.

Verrall rejects that criticism. According to her, the vast majority of smokers want to quit anyway and a ban is the best way to help them.

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