NZ to become a smoking no-go area?

Ban smoking anywhere, any time, says Maori Party
22.02.06
By Ainsley Thomson

The Maori Party is drawing up a bill to ban smoking anywhere in New Zealand. The bill would also make it illegal to produce or sell tobacco. MP Hone Harawira, who is drafting the private member's bill, said it was "not about trying to penalise the poor addicts who are smoking cigarettes". "But the tobacco companies can go to hell. We will no longer sacrifice our generations so you can make profits."

While a quarter of all New Zealanders smoke, nearly half of Maori do, and a third (650 to 1000) of Maori deaths a year are due to tobacco. Yesterday, the other Maori Party MPs, Tariana Turia, Pita Sharples and Te Ururoa Flavell, all non-smokers, agreed to support the bill. Once drafted, it will need to win a ballot before being introduced to Parliament.

Mr Harawira said he could not understand why no politician had drafted a similar bill. "I can't believe how we could have allowed this to carry on. This actually kills people and yet it's legal."

Over the past decades laws surrounding tobacco use and advertising have been slowly tightened. In 1995, tobacco advertising was banned, as was tobacco sponsorship the following year. And in December 2004 all workplaces, including bars, restaurants, clubs and casinos, became smoke-free. Each year the Government gets $1.2 billion from tax on tobacco products.

Prime Minister Helen Clark, who is stridently anti-smoking, said through a spokesman that she did not support prohibition. She said it would simply criminalise people with an addiction, and she favoured a public health approach to tobacco and addiction.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) director Becky Freeman said banning tobacco simply made it an issue for the courts to deal with, rather than keeping it as a health issue. "I can see that their [Maori Party] heart is in the right place. They are trying to do something about this epidemic that is obviously killing their people more than it is killing the rest of the population."

British American Tobacco spokesman Carrick Graham said he found himself in the unusual position of agreeing with ASH. "Legitimate tobacco companies could pack up and go away, but then the market would be run by criminal organisations and I think the Maori Party would agree that isn't the best course of action." He said alcohol prohibition failed and tobacco would be no different.

Mr Harawira said he quit smoking 15 years ago after his friend and mentor the Rev Maori Marsden died of lung cancer.

Smoking and NZ

* 25 per cent of New Zealanders smoke.
* Nearly 50 per cent of Maori smoke.
* About 5000 people a year die from smoking-related diseases.
* $1.2 billion is paid from taxes on tobacco.

Interesting stance considering that over 50% of Maori are smokers!

With more and more places becoming non smoking. I wonder what the effect would be in the future. I've never smoked but people say it calms their nerves. So if they can't smoke, will the streets be filled with psychos?
(sorry can't spell it)
We also have an obesity problem, so if you put on weight when you stop smoking won't that also upset the apple cart?

With all that spare cash, won't people start to spend on something else? In some cases good stuff in others possibly bad. Gambling or such.

Yeah baby!!!

It'll never run but it get the ideas out in the community.

So if they can't smoke, will the streets be filled with psychos?

One certainly can't help wondering what effect it would have on the smoking population. A nurse I once worked with was a jibbering wreck after every prolonged clinic session until she could get to the smoking room and have a few puffs to calm herself down. What a state to get yourself into . I would really hate to live my life just dying to get from one ciggie to the next. That really is an addiction when it gets to that stage. I'm sooooo glad I didn't go down that road, especially having had a mother die from the effects of smoking.

Whereas I would hesitate to deny all smokers their 'fix', I could go on at length about why I, personally, would welcome the ban. I just don't know how the government would go about implementing it, as it's so widespread and the so-called 'right to smoke' is fiercely protected by all smokers.

don't ban smoking, ban imports of cigarettes. It would not completely get rid of the problem, but if cigarettes are hard to get hold of and expensive, then surely it would reduce the number smoking.

Call for tax rise to deter smokers
24 February 2006
By KAMALA HAYMAN

Anti-smoking groups are calling for a big hike in tobacco tax as statistics indicate the Government's ban on lighting up in bars and restaurants may be failing to deter smokers. Yesterday, Statistics New Zealand released figures showing the availability of tobacco in the country rose 5.6 per cent last year – the first year following the ban on smoking in workplaces.

Statistics also show an increasing preference for loose tobacco among smokers. The statistics also show the volume of total alcohol rose last year by a modest 3%, but spirits and spirit-based drinks leapt nearly 17%. Spirits made up nearly 12% of the total alcohol market, four times the proportion seen in 1996. Beer continued to fall as a proportion of total alcohol available from 97% in 1946, 82% in 1995, to just 69% last year. The statistics were based on the volume of alcohol and tobacco available on the market, not sales or consumption. Action on Smoking and Health director Becky Freeman was surprised by the figures and called for an increase in tobacco tax to add $1.50 to every packet of cigarettes. "When Ireland enacted similar (smokefree) legislation a few months before us, in 2004, at the same time they had a tax increase and they saw huge reductions almost immediately in the amount of tobacco consumed," she said.

Freeman said for every 10% increase in price, adult smoking fell 4% and youth smoking by 15%. Smokefree Coalition director Mark Peck said the figures were perplexing. "It's worrying – at a time when we want to see prevalence dropping, it's doing the opposite," he said. Peck also backed calls for an increase in the tobacco tax. He said cigarettes had effectively become cheaper in recent years because inflation-related increases in tobacco tax had failed to keep pace with wage rises. "Price is absolutely key to getting prevalence down. Often people give up because of an event and price is a great catalyst."

Quitline manager Andrea Gilmer said the helpline was "snowed under" fielding about 1000 calls a week. "From the beginning of the year we've been hugely busy." She attributed the demand to new year's resolutions, graphic television advertising by Quitline, and to the high-profile court case of heavy smoker Janice Pou whose children were suing tobacco companies following her death from lung cancer. Gilmer, who was new to Quitline, did not know how many calls the service took last year. National health spokesman Tony Ryall said the Health Ministry would be shocked by the statistics. "It does indicate that we need to rethink New Zealand's anti-smoking campaign."

Alcohol Advisory Council chief executive Mike MacAvoy said ready-to-drink spirits had captured a large chunk of the beer market and created a particular niche market amongst young females. The overall rise in alcohol availability was not significant. "If everybody drank two drinks a day you wouldn't give a hoot but if they drank that volume all on Friday night we would." Binge drinking caused accidents, fights, domestic violence and health problems.

Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor said an increase in tobacco consumption was disappointing. "I don't believe it is logical to link last year's rise and the smokefree legislation. Tobacco consumption also went up year-on-year in 1995, 1999 and 2001, for a variety of reasons. It is also worth noting that 2004 had the lowest tobacco consumption ever so an increase is not altogether unexpected," he said.

Smoking calms nerves? Hmm....sounds like something else

Caffeine helps people not get headaches....

But that more than likely is because it's the cause of headaches because people are addicted to it and need it.

Sorry, I'm probably in the minority that thinks caffeine is evil.


But deep down, you know it's true. You just want to joke around about it instead

I agree with the point that a unilateral ban on tobacco would merely make it a great criminal money maker. In California I enjoy the bans on certain aspects of public smoking - I can breathe while in a restaurant or bar. But making its use criminal? High taxes don't seem to have much impact on people's use, though the money could go to anti-smoking education. For a while, the American Cancer Society had some great anti-smoking billboard ads. They had good humor and were to the point. Too bad there's not more peer pressure to not smoke than there is to do so.

Hmmm maori party leader fancies retiring does he/she. Talk about alienating your key supporters???

This whole smoking debate is pathetic. Ban it in public places, ban in the home where non consenting adults are present, but don't ban it outright. The tax revenue the government makes on cigarette sales is tremendous and far outweighs the cost of healthcare to victims, easy money!! And noones offended apart from smokers but not half as much as they would be if they outlawed it completely.

Jeez, I should be a politician.