Strong public support for smokefree NZ

Strong public support for smokefree New Zealand by 2020

A new survey conducted for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) by research company UMR shows that nearly two in three New Zealanders support ending commercial tobacco sales by 2020.

Respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with “New Zealand should be a completely Smokefree nation by 2020. This means smoked tobacco would not be widely available for sale.”

Fifty-nine percent of respondents ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ with the statement.

ASH communications manger Michael Colhoun says there is a mood across the country for strong action to be taken on tobacco.

“The public has said ‘enough is enough – let’s put a stop to 5000 deaths each year’. The momentum has been built up over the past year, including the tobacco excise increase and I think we’ve reached a tipping point,” said Mr Colhoun.

This is not just the view of organisations that promote smokefree but of the general public, all of whom know friends and family that have suffered the impacts of smoking or those that do smoke and they hope that the same thing doesn’t happen to them,” concluded Mr Colhoun.

ENDS

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