Sense from ASH

Ben Youdan from ASH writes:

Vaping is far less harmful than smoking and is helping millions worldwide to quit the deadly habit.

In Aotearoa between 2018 and 2021, smoking rates fell by an unprecedented 30%, and an almost unbelievable 40% for wāhine Māori.

The reason for such a large shift was a huge switch to vaping, as addicted smokers ditched cigarettes for good.

I see many many more vapers in the streets now than actual smokers. In fact I can’t recall the last time I saw someone actually smoking a cigarette.

There is no doubt that this huge impact on adult smoking in Aotearoa has been because people can get vapes where they get cigarettes; vaping is cheaper, better promoted and easier to buy than cigarettes.

Australia, on the other hand, has just proposed a policy that essentially bans the sale of vapes outside a medical prescription model – but at the same time leaves cigarettes in every petrol station, supermarket, dairy and convenience store.

Could the tobacco industry ask for any better gift than a government-sanctioned monopoly for cigarettes, by far the deadliest nicotine products.

It’s a crazy policy where you make the product that is 95% less harmful harder to access than the product that is 20 times more harmful.

The Australian ban is the worst kind of policy making, and lacks empathy for the 2.2 million Aussie adults who smoke.

It will reduce their access to much less harmful alternatives. Especially when good access to alternatives are genuinely helPing people, and likely reducing the future death toll of tobacco.

The bottom line is that this policy will prolong the life of the tobacco industry in Australia and shorten the life of the smoking population that will likely increase. This is not a policy we should adopt.

I hope the NZ Government agrees.