March 19, 2018
Plain packaging just one step on smokefree road
A Maori tobacco control advocate says the plain packaging of tobacco should be seen as a chance to get the smokefree Aotearoa 2025 target back on track.
The new rules came into force latast week, and all branded tobacco must be off the shelves by June 6.
Boyd Broughton from Action on Smoking and Health says it was one of the recommendations of the Maori select committee inquiry into tobacco, but like a lot of the committee’s ideas it was supposed to be part of an integrated strategy.
Instead initiatives have been introduced piecemeal without being linked up, diluting their potential effect.
"So plain packaging would have the effect of creating a little bit of thought, a little bit of distance between the people who smoke and their cigarettes and during that time it would be opportune for government to have mass media campaigns happening so people would know where to go for support to stop smoking, how to do it,and what's available, and the tax as well that would make it more expensive and create the opportunity to have some mass marketing campaign," Mr Broughton says.
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