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It’s World Smokefree Day, and Action on Smoking and Health says the 300,000 Kiwis who still smoke need more help to quit.
ASH director Ben Youdan says in less than 2 years there will be no nicotine in cigarettes sold in New Zealand, which will be especially hard on middle-aged and older smokers who have been dependent for many years.
He says while this country has been incredibly successful in preventing youth smoking, with only 6 percent of under 25s now smoking daily compared to 19 percent a decade ago, it’s been older smokers who have had the slowest quit rates.
More than two-thirds of smokers are now over 35, and they’re the generation facing smoking-related illness in the next 10-15 years.
Mr Youdan says quit rates for Maori have doubled in the past two years, and almost quadrupled for wāhine Māori, but they are still overrepresented among smokers.
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