By Simon Shepherd
Some smokers found themselves caught out by the Government’s speedy law change, as the price of cigarettes increased today.
Dairy owners were unsure by how much and when to raise the prices, while smoking quit lines have already been inundated with inquiries.
At the Mangere Bridge Mini Mart this morning, owner James Kumar admits he had been caught by surprise and was still selling cigarettes at the old price.
“I rang the cigarette company and they are going to tell me when to put up the price and they are going to send me the price list,” he told 3 News.
Customers were split on the immediate and secretive 10 percent price hike.
Quitline expects the price rise to be a tipping point for wavering smokers.
“Last night we would normally have programmed for 150 calls. We had 341 and are ringing people back today that we didn’t get to talk to last night.
Health department figures show smoking kills 5000 New Zealanders a year and the highest concentration of smokers is between the ages of 15 and 29.
Surely the price hikes will make young smokers think twice? They say “unlikely”.
“If it’s just part of a cost of say, going out on a night, then it doesn’t really matter what the cost is,” says young smoker Matthew Webster.
“I think it is kind of useless because just by putting up taxes won’t help people to stop smoking,” says 20-year-old smoker Bharat Jain.
Quit coach Josephine Samuelu says there is help available.
“You can get an assessment, samples of nicotine patches, tablets, gum and everything,” she says.
“The first four weeks is the hardest to quit smoking, so the follow up is really important. I monitor them over six months and 12 month periods to see how they are getting on.”
Ms Samuelu says the cost of quitting is around $9 for a three-month supply of nicotine patches – a cheap solution to an increasingly expensive addiction.
3 News