John MacDonald: Nothing will stop some people smoking

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

I think I’m going to have to go and take my temperature.

Because, I’m either coming down with something, or I actually am agreeing with what a New Zealand First MP is saying about cigarette smoking.

I’m talking about Associate Health Minister Casey Costello, who’s in hot water with health advocates over her idea of freezing tobacco taxes for three years.

She isn't convinced the taxes are going to actually do anything to encourage people who still smoke, to stop smoking.

And despite all the gnashing of teeth that’s going on, I think she might actually be on to something.

Because, if you're still smoking, you’re obviously quite prepared to pay around $50 a packet. Which is about what it costs now.

And, if you’re happy to pay $50 a packet, I reckon no increase in price is going to stop you. You’ve reached the point of no return, haven’t you?

If you are so addicted, no price increase is going to make a difference. Which must be a nightmare for people who don’t smoke but who have partners who smoke. I can only imagine the resentment that must come through when they see that amount of money going down the drain.

I heard Boyd Swinburn on Newstalk ZB last night. He’s one of the people who thinks the Associate Health Minister should resign. He was saying about 300,000 people in New Zealand still smoke. And about 5,000 people die every year from smoking-related diseases.

Which is a stat I’m not going to argue with. It’s also not a stat that I’m not going to say is anywhere near acceptable.

But I think this idea of increasing prices until people ditch the cigarettes isn’t the answer for these so called “hard core” smokers.

The ones who haven’t been put-off by prices going through the roof because of the extra taxes successive governments have put on them.

Boyd Swinburn’s argument is that, if we stop increasing the taxes on cigarettes in line with inflation, cigarettes will effectively —over time— become cheaper, compared to everything else that goes up in price.

But there is a contradiction. And this is not me having a go at the anti-smoking brigade, because I’m as anti-smoking as the rest of them. I have never smoked. Which I’m thankful for. But I do come from a long line of cigarette smokers, and pretty much all of them died because of it. Including my own father. So, I’ve experienced what it does to people.

But the great contradiction here —with the anti-smoking crew saying the Associate Health Minister should quit for even questioning whether increased taxes are the answer to getting people off the cigarettes— is that they are often the very same people who bang on about not punishing people who use illegal drugs.

They say, don’t they, that instead of fining people who use illegal drugs or putting them in prison, we should be treating it as a health issue, not a law and order issue.

You know, get to the root of why these people are using drugs in the first place and, if they want to get off them, to help them. So why not the same with cigarette smokers?

Because, when it comes down to it, what’s the difference between a fine for possessing illegal drugs, and increasing the price of a packet of ciggies at the supermarket or the dairy?

There’s no difference. Fines and increased prices are both used as deterrents, or punishments.

And the health people seem quite happy for the big-stick approach to continue when it comes to tobacco —which, whether we like it or not, is legal. But not for people who use other drugs— which are illegal.

If it’s not hypocrisy. It’s certainly a massive contradiction.

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