Bid to ban smoking in NZ 

The idea of making tobacco illegal could have smokers reaching for a cigarette, but a Maori Party MP is trying to do just that.

Hone Harawira has released the first draft of legislation designed to outlaw smoking entirely, his move coinciding with World Smokefree Day on Thursday.

Harawira's draft bill comes at the same time as new research reveals smokers as young as 15 wish they had never began.

On average, Kiwi's start smoking at fourteen and a half years old.

The Ministry of Health study reveals 75% of smokers aged between 15 and 19 wish they had never started smoking, but 85% of smokers in that age group plan on giving up in their twenties.

"What we don't know from around the world is what's actually effective in helping these under 20 year olds actually quit smoking. But we'll have to look for innovative ways to help them because clearly they want to," says Dr Ashley Bloomfield of the ministry.
 
But Harawira thinks he has the answer.

"My aim is by 2011 to have all tobacco companies illegal in Aotearoa," he says.

A former-smoker himself, the MP spread the word about his new private member's bill at Hato Petera College, an Auckland Maori school.

"It's real simple - ban the production and sale of tobacco in Aotearoa, get the tobacco companies the hell out of New Zealand."

The Himalayan country of Bhutan is the only other country in the world where smoking is illegal.

"I don't care about what everybody else does in the world, I only care about what we do here in Aotearoa and not just for Maori, for all New Zealanders," says Harawira.

On average it takes smokers around eight attempts at quitting before they're successful.

Harawira says he won't stub it out overnight either. He's aiming to have New Zealand smoke free in four years time.

Meanwhile, the government is trying to get younger smokers to kick the habit. Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor says $8 million was been set aside in this year's budget to help young people quit smoking. He says youth smoking rates are dropping, but not fast enough.

And to mark World Smokefree Day, organisers are urging people to sign a petition calling on the government to ban the public display of cigarettes and tobacco products form retail outlets.

Director of Action on Smoking and Health Ben Youdan says the displays target young people. He hopes thousands of signatures will be added to the petition to be presented to parliament in mid June.

Youdan says the display of cigarettes influences children to buy them and undermines attempts to quit smoking. He says the final stranglehold in marketing tobacco in New Zealand happens to be the one place where young people are likely to be exposed.

He says getting cigarettes out of sight in retail stores will make smoking seem less acceptable and normal to young people.