Stub out ciggies in Waikato — DHB vision
Health leaders have a vision of cigarette sales being stubbed out in the Waikato Region, but haven’t set a date on when or how it might happen.
There were ‘oohs’ around the table when Waikato District Health Board member Tania Hodges suggested the idea at a Wednesday committee meeting.
Is it too radical to look at how Waikato could be the first region to stop selling cigarettes? she asked.
That would be making a rod for the health board’s back, Medical Officer of Health Dr Richard Hoskins replied.
‘‘We would be saying we were committed to doing something we couldn’t possibly achieve.’’
But enough committee members liked the aspiration for Hoskins to look at putting it in the organisation’s official position statement – though there’s no date attached.
Even the Government isn’t trying to get smoking down to zero, Hoskins said – the Smokefree 2025 target is for a drop to five per cent smoking prevalence.
Reports indicate Aotearoa is not on track to meet that target, and Labour MP Louisa Wall recently said she’d like to see smoking at home banned.
‘‘You can smoke on the west island, which is Australia,’’ Hodges told fellow committee members on Wednesday. ‘‘That’s where our five per cent can be.’’
‘‘We have to think a bit more radically rather than just keep tinkering with the edges, or it will be [Smokefree] 3025, if we’re still around.’’
There have already been big changes in society’s views on smoking, Hodges said.
In her lifetime, we’ve gone from smoking in the car with the kids inside to not smoking in many public places.
‘‘Is it so radical to think that we wouldn’t sell cigarettes in the Waikato region?’’ she asked. ‘‘I’m just encouraging us to be bold.’’
There has been intensive work with retailers in the past, Hoskins told board members, it had been mainly two steps forward and two steps back.
Waikato’s right to look at making it harder to get cigarettes, University of Otago public health researcher professor Richard Edwards said, but their idea is quite radical.
‘‘That might be a little bit too far even for me,’’ said the co-director of ASPIRE, a group which produces research to support the Smokefree 2025 goal.
‘‘The government could do things but whether a local DHB or council could do much I’m not sure ... with the current legislation.’’
ASPIRE has suggested a massive reduction in where cigarettes can be sold, and shifting sales to licensed tobacco retailers – possibly specialist R18 shops.
Action on supply has been lacking, despite moves in areas such as smokefree areas, advertising, and taxes, Edwards said.
Currently Kiwis can easily buy smokes from about 6000 different outlets – such as dairies, supermarkets, service stations, and some bars.
ASH – Action for Smokefree 2025 chair Professor Robert Beaglehole also liked Waikato’s aspiration.
Practicalities could be a challenge, he said, and people could be driven out of the Waikato to the nearest tobacco seller.
Before any ban, authorities would have to do everything possible to help current smokers overcome their addiction.
‘‘It’s very difficult. It’s a powerful addiction. Can we do more to help them stop and then gradually reduce the supply at the same time, without trying to go totally cigarette-free in a few years?’’ he said.
Waikato’s aspiration is the kind of thinking Hauraki-Waikato MP Nanaia Mahuta expects in the health zone.
She supported it, but said the rubber would hit the road when local dairies had to decide whether to sell cigarettes.
There are many elements to balance up for smoking goals, she said, including economic drivers, health, changing societal norms, and possible voluntary buy-in..
British American Tobacco NZ declined to comment on the aspirational statement without having been at the meeting where it was discussed.
‘‘Our city and region needed something unique to differentiate our offering from other parts of New Zealand. We’ve got a strong story to tell and the industry wants to tell it – this gives us the platform to do that and do it well.’’
Hamilton & Waikato Tourism chief executive Jason Dawson