NZMA Backs Govt Plans To Help Kiwis Go Smokefree

Most people who smoke wish they didn’t – now the NZ Medical Association is endorsing the Government’s blueprint to help all New Zealanders, especially future generations, live free of tobacco and regrets.

The NZMA has written to the Government strongly supporting the proposed Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan.

NZMA Chair Dr Alistair Humphrey says the NZMA has for several years been at the forefront of advocacy for making Aotearoa an essentially smokefree nation by 2025.

“Our 2017 position statement called on the Government to develop an action plan to achieve Smokefree 2025 with a strong emphasis on Māori-focussed outcomes,” Dr Humphrey says.

“We are pleased to note that the proposals contain several of the measures that we have been calling for as well as some new measures. If implemented in full, we believe that the action plan offers a realistic chance of realising the 2025 goal.

“More than eighty percent of smokers wish they never started (NZ Medical Journal, page 99) – we want to save New Zealanders from that regret and instead lead healthy smokefree lives.”

NZMA strongly supports all the proposed measures:

• Making tobacco products less available
• Licensing retailers of tobacco and vaping products
• Reducing the number of smoked tobacco product retailers
• Restricting sale of smoked tobacco products to a limited number of specific store types
• Introducing a smokefree generation policy
• Measures to make smoked tobacco products less addictive and appealing
• Reducing nicotine in smoked tobacco products to very low levels
• Prohibiting filters in cigarettes
• Prohibiting innovations aimed at increasing the appeal and addictiveness of smoked tobacco products
• Making tobacco products less affordable
• Setting a minimum price for all tobacco products to complement existing excise tax measures

You can read the full submission here. To arrange an interview with Dr Humphrey, please contact me.

The NZMA is New Zealand’s largest medical organisation with about 5000 members from all areas of medicine. The NZMA aims to provide leadership of the medical profession, and to promote professional unity and values, and the health of all New Zealanders.

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