A study in New Zealand has revealed that allowing people access to alternative nicotine products is more effective for smoking cessation rates than raising the tax of vaping devices across the country.
Smoke-Free Sweden has stated that the number of daily smokers in New Zealand has been rapidly declining since 2020-2021, with 154,000 individuals quitting cigarettes in this time frame thanks to e-cigarettes.
The report found that despite the number of vapers outnumbering the number of smokers in 2022, no hospitalisations in New Zealand have reported vaping as a primary diagnosis in several years.
These statistics come in spite of the fact that tobacco taxes in New Zealand have grown by a whopping 118 percent in the last thirteen years.
Leader of Smoke-Free Sweden, Dr Delon Human, has said:
“New Zealand has shown that providing smokers with access to alternative products is a better solution than increased taxes on tobacco products.”
Sweden is currently on track to become the first EU country to achieve a milestone of a smoking population of 5 percent, demonstrating that the situation in New Zealand correlates with trends across the globe.
Compared with the rest of Europe, and owing to their policy of making vapes available, acceptable, and affordable for adult smokers, Sweden has 44 percent fewer tobacco-related deaths than any other country.
Dr Human continued:
“We are calling on policymakers to look at data from both Sweden and New Zealand. These examples show that making alternative, reduced harm products accessible to consumers can be lifesaving.”
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