Paddy Gower on smoking and vaping

Patrick Gower writes:

Smoking killed my Mum.

She died of lung cancer.

She was 56 years old and it was a total waste of a good life. There is so much she has missed out on.

That is why there is nobody in New Zealand who wants smoking banned more than me.

56 is so terribly young. And it is a reminder why we do want to have as few people smoking as possible.

I virtually never talk about my views on smoking privately or publicly, and until now I have kept my views to myself because I haven’t wanted to force them in other people.

But on The AM Show this morning they were talking about stopping smoking, and in the ad break before I came on to the paneI I decided the time was right.

I was inspired after seeing Dr Hayden McRobbie from Counties Manukau DHB’s Stop Smoking programme talking about vaping earlier on the show.

He came in from the frontline and gave the most simple explanation as to how we can reduce smoking in this country, which is to let vaping come in.

Dr McRobbie says vaping helps people give up, and is better for your health.

Vaping therefore is the big solution for the people who are addicted and can’t stop, or who can’t afford smoking but want to give up. It would also stop a black market if a ban on smoking comes in.