May 18, 2017
Dairies wrong place to sell tobacco
Former MP Hone Harawira says dairies would no longer be selling cigarettes if the Government had heeded the recommendations of the Maori affairs select committee inquiry into tobacco control.
A spate of violent robberies of dairies has been blamed on the high price of tobacco which resulted from tax increases aimed at discouraging smoking.
Mr Harawira says the inquiry wanted to limit the places tobacco could be sold, which would have meant security could be dealt with more easily.
"It's another one of the recommendations that haven't been picked up, along with the recommendation to reduce the nicotine in cigarettes, our recommendation to reduce the flavourings in tobacco that make it taste nice, all those things to try to change the game, they haven't been done. That is unfortunate, and dairy owners are suffering as a result," he says.
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