Getting serious about going smokefree
On World Smokefree Day, Christchurch oncologist Scott Babington asks us to imagine the next generation growing up in a Smokefree New Zealand.
Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 is all about whanau, which the theme of this year’s World Smokefree Day in New Zealand.
What does Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 really mean? It means that by 2025 less than 5 per cent of New Zealanders will choose not to smoke. Choice is the important word here, this is not about banning smoking but it is about making choosing not to smoke the norm.
With almost 85 per cent of New Zealanders choosing not to smoke you might think that we have nothing to worry about. However, even this level of smoking causes significant harm.
In 2010, the Maori Affairs Select Committee declared that we have ‘‘to remove tobacco from our country’s future in order to preserve Maori culture for younger generations’’. What this means is that parents who chose to smoke are not living long enough to see their tamariki and mokopuna grow up and pass on their culture. It’s that serious.
So what can we do? Preventing people from trying smoking is the single most important thing that we can do. Nicotine is so addictive that just one cigarette can get a person hooked. Ask any smoker who has tried to quit and they will tell you how hard it is. This is why Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 is such an important goal.
We need to continue to reinforce that smoking tobacco isn’t normal by making more public outdoor areas, and other spaces such as bus stops, cars and homes and communities smokefree.
The recent Fresh Air Project involved hospitality venues around Christchurch voluntarily choosing to have smokefree outdoor eating areas. Customers appreciate this, and more venues are keen to follow.
Unfortunately last month the Government chose to reject a call to ban smoking in cars that have anyone under 18 years old in them. It seems odd that the government chose not to pass this legislation when the Health Select Committee chairman, National MP Simon O’Connor, concluded that it would send a clear message to the public that smoking around children was unacceptable.
This doesn’t mean that we cannot encourage people who smoke not to do it in vehicles that have children in them. This is something that people who smoke can do for their family/whanau and community organisations can promote.
I congratulate the Government on committing to increasing taxation on tobacco products by 10 per cent each year for the next five years. Increasing the price of cigarettes is the single most effective tool for convincing people who smoke to try to give up.
The most visited link on the excellent smokefree.org.nz website is the cost of smoking calculator. Give it a try. It is surprising how expensive an addiction smoking is and how much people can save by quitting.
Yet big tobacco strives to ensure that smoking areas are not removed and uses social media to promote smoking as an attractive pastime.
The rise of nicotine containing e-cigarettes may help some people to stop smoking, but it could also allow for substitution to vaping similar addictive products.
Even though most Kiwis accept that smoking is harmful we need to continue educate people about why they shouldn’t smoke and give them options to help them quit.
Help is available through the new Canterbury Stop Smoking Service, Te Ha Waitaha, or the nationwide Quitline (0800 778 778).
However, the most important step for a person who smokes is to decide for themselves that they want to quit smoking, and forever. If they are able to do this then they are more likely to benefit from other assistance that stop smoking services can help with and become long-term non-smokers.
People are not ‘‘smokers’’, they are people who smoke nicotine products. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known to civilisation, therefore we need to help people who smoke to quit.
How can you help? Be informed about the consequences of smoking and get support to stop if you smoke. Helping someone to stop smoking is the best thing that you could do for them.
Support venues that are making smokefree the norm. Even if you smoke you can still help, for example make your home and your car smokefree.
If we all work together then we can make our communities truly smokefree and protect everyone from exposure to tobacco products and second-hand smoke.
Is Smokefree NZ/Aotearoa 2025 possible? Yes it is, but we as New Zealanders need to remain focused on the goal of de-normalising the consumption of nicotine containing products, and help people who smoke to quit.
* Scott Babington is a radiation oncologist at Christchurch Hospital, where one of his specialities is treating lung cancer.
"Increasing the price of cigarettes is the single most effective tool for convincing people who smoke to try to give up." Oncologist Scott Babington