A game-changing move to make cigarettes non-addictive will be a decisive nail in the coffin of smoking harm in New Zealand, write professors of public health Richard Edwards and Chris Bullen.
Big tobacco has long known it is in the nicotine delivery business. The addictive substance grabs new customers and ensures they get trapped in a purchasing loop even as ill-health takes hold.
Associate minister of health Ayesha Verrall’s Smokefree Action Plan sets to change that by making New Zealand the first country to slash nicotine levels in cigarettes.
The plan proposes cutting nicotine levels to less than a tenth of the current amount of nicotine per cigarette, leaving less than one milligram inside each smoke.
With nicotine at such minute levels, no matter how much a person smokes there will be no “rush” from the addictive substance – it will be insufficient to have any effect.
The cravings itch will remain unscratched, allowing people to recognise cigarettes for what they are: expensive, chemical-laden, cancer-causing sticks.
Studies show when nicotine is removed people find they smoke fewer cigarettes and find it easier to quit. It frees people who cannot quit due to addiction and makes it less likely younger people will progress into long-term users.
Richard Edwards and Chris Bullen – The Spinoff – 2021-10-14.
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