Organised crime groups will be salivating at news of the Government’s Smokefree 2025 plan, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. The plan will slash nicotine content in legal cigarettes to “very low” levels and ban sales to New Zealanders born after 2008 if legislation passes next year.
Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Smokers already pay far more in taxes than what they cost the health system, but instead of thanking them, the Government wants to make them miserable and force them into the arms of the illicit market.”
“It’s the smoke that kills people, not the nicotine. Cutting back on nicotine strength will see smokers huffing down more cigarettes, harder and faster. That is of course assuming they don’t simply switch to untaxed black market durries, which will be unaffected by these rules.”
“The black market is lying in wait to supply cheap full-strength smuggled or homegrown cigarettes to smokers denied access to their usual nicotine fix under this policy. Already, one in ten cigarettes smoked in New Zealand are sourced from the black market.”
“This Government is already under fire for being soft on crime. This mad policy will be another bonanza for organised criminal groups, providing an enormous new revenue stream that will increase the influence of violent gangs.”
“The proposal to ban New Zealanders born after 2008 from buying legal smokes will see gangs going out of their way to target young people for cigarette sales. Once those transactions are normalised, what’s to stop criminal durry dealers from offering those kids harder stuff? The Government may have just turned tobacco into the new gateway drug.”
“This plan ignores the evidence of what’s already working: smokers are switching to vaping, a far less harmful alternative. This progress is happening faster than ever, even as the Government abandons annual tax hikes, with smoking rates among young adults now comfortably below the five percent ‘smokefree’ threshold. There is no need for dangerous, nasty, experimental policies that will make smokers miserable and criminals rich.”
The Taxpayers’ Union’s submission on the Smokefree 2025 action plan can be read here.
Press Release: Taxpayers’ Union
