May 31, 2021
Smokefree plan has chance of working if focus on Maori
Posted On May 31, 2021
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The New Zealand Medical Association is backing the Government’s proposed Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan, but says it’s important there is a strong focus on Māori outcomes.
It’s World Smokefree Day, which also means it’s the last day for feedback on the plan.
Medical Association chair Dr Alistair Humphrey says if implemented in full, the action plan offers a realistic chance of realising the 2025 goal.
Proposed measure include:
- Making tobacco products less available and less affordable;
- Licensing retailers of tobacco and vaping products and reducing the number of retailers;
- Introducing a smokefree generation policy, with s rising age limit when people can start buying tobacco;
- Reducing nicotine in smoked tobacco products to very low levels
- Prohibiting innovations aimed at increasing the appeal and addictiveness of smoked tobacco products
Dr Humphrey says more than 80 percent of smokers wish they had never started.
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