New Zealand (Aoteaora) has today released an ‘aggressive’ action plan to be smoke-free by 2025.
The goal is to reduce daily smoking in all population groups to 5% or less.
The plan involves three main approaches:
1. Reducing inequalities with a special focus on disadvantaged groups with high smoking rates, such as Maori and low socio-economic populations.
2. Introducing a ‘smoke-free generation’ with new legislation next year which will prevent anyone born after 2008 from buying cigarettes.
3. Increasing the number of people who successfully quit smoking. This includes increasing stop smoking services, reducing the number of shops selling cigarettes from 8,000 to under 500, lowering the nicotine content to make cigarettes less addictive and facilitating access to vaping products.
The role of vaping
The plan explicitly supports smokers who cannot quit to switch to less harmful alternatives such as vaping. It places aggressive restrictions on smoking while giving a significant advantage to vaping.
Colin Mendelsohn – colinmendelsohn.com.au – 2021-12-09.
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