Many who grow up in the 1980’s and 1990’s will remember walking into bars and restaurants permeated by cigarette smoke. People walked past you on the streets and you could smell it on their breath and see flecks of burnt cigarette on their clothes.
Whilst working at Pak N Save (2001-2008) I remember sitting in the staff room and it was permeated by cigarette smoke. Then renovations of the supermarket, which is attached Northlands Shopping Centre, meant that the smokers got a separate smokers room. That lasted until 2004, when the then Helen Clark led Government introduced legislation that took effect in December of that year to ban smoking indoors. Smokers had to leave the building completely to have a smoke.
The libertarian in me has had concerns about how much this interferes with the right of the individual to choose what they inhale. Libertarian me considered that the individual adult should be able to make an informed decision and accept the responsibility for their actions as a result of that decision. All of which is all very well, except that it seems from experience that when it comes to owning responsibility for the effects had on people who do not necessarily choose whether they can be in your presence or not, many choose not to do so. Tough luck they say.
I have seen pushback on this by people who are concerned that I have not considered the black market conditions that are allegedly being created by cracking down on tobacco. I counter by noting that a lot of the ram raids are by people who are disenfranchised, with no connection to society, simply out to make a statement – most of those arrested for being involved in ram raids have no connections to gangs. The failure to completely address these problems, in part comes down to the limp wristed attitude of the courts in handing down sentences and Department of Corrections, who release prisoners that are not ready for release who then reoffend.
Philosophically, it is that inability/unwillingness of libertarians to accept the effects of their actions on others – especially those not yet old enough to make their own decisions – that makes me support the moves in the last two decades to minimise the effects of smoking. Dr Ayesha Verrall, former Minister of Health under Jacinda Ardern, said that modelling that was shown to Ministry of Health staff and her office suggested that 4,000-8,000 people would be saved along with $NZ1.3 billion funding from holding onto the changes introduced in 2022.
A time line of the legislation passed by Parliament and policies announced on smoking is below:
- 1990: when the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act was passed. It banned sales of cigarettes to anyone under 16, and regulated the marketing and advertizing of tobacco products.
- By the mid 1990’s further progress had been made on advertizing with the end of tobacco sponsoring sports events such as crickets Benson and Hedges World Series.
- 1997: the Smokefree Environments Amendment Act passed into law, forcing the minimum age one could purchase tobacco to rise to 18.
- 2004: Schools, child care centres and shopping malls become smokefree as did bars, warehouses and offices
- 2008: Health warnings appear on tobacco products
- 2011: Prisons ban smoking
- 2018: Plain packaging becomes compulsory and the health warnings are given an upgrade
- 2022: A Smokefree Aotearoa was launched with some of the toughest rules around smoking in the world; from July 2024 the number of stores able t sell tobacco would be cut to 600; from April 2025 reductions in the amount of nicotine in tobacco products would be cut; from 01 January 2027 anyone born on/after 01 January 2009 would not be able to buy tobacco products
Or so we thought. One of the very announcements made by the new N.Z.F./National/A.C.T. coalition was that the reforms would be aborted. The revenue from continued cigarette sales will apparently help fund the proposed tax cuts.
And thus, up in cigarette smoke goes world leading legislation, 4,000-8,000 lives and N.Z.$1.3 billion in savings.
Leftist Kiwi Writes 