Will New Zealand be “smoke free within three years”?

In 2011 New Zealand first announced its intention to become “smoke free” by 2025.1 Why have efforts ramped up now?“I came into office as associate minister of health in 2020, and it was apparent that we needed to take bold action to reach that goal. At that point our smoking rate was 11%. It’s now 9%, so we need to change what we’re doing to reach that target.”Why are you personally committed to this cause?“I’ve been a doctor until just recently. During most of my 20s, as a house officer and registrar, I’d spend my night and evening duties admitting people to hospital suffering the harms of cigarettes. In particular, I looked after a lot of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, who had come to hospital out of breath in distress, fearing that it was so hard to breathe they would die. And this would happen to them repeatedly…
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