Disruptor, disaster, or distraction? Vaping and smokefree New Zealand

New Zealand is one year from the 2025 government deadline to reduce adult daily smoking to 5%. Until 2020, achieving this goal was looking unlikely, but in the last 4 years, adult smoking rates have dropped by 40%, correlating with a rapid increase in vaping and putting New Zealand on a trajectory to achieve 5% by 2025.

The unprecedented fall in smoking rates has gone largely uncelebrated. Concerns about the significant rise in youth vaping are dominating the public debate, with increased public perception that vaping is simply replacing smoking as the next public health disaster.

Tensions have been heightened by the repeal of the previous government’s smoking endgame laws that would have de-nicotinised cigarettes, reduced cigarette outlets by 90% and a smokefree generation policy.

This talk will update on progress towards Smokefree 2025 and how vaping has not just disrupted smoking, but also the way New Zealand thinks about tobacco control and addiction.

Is the noise about vaping distracting us from the real public health problem of smoking, and what this might mean for tobacco policy, harm reduction, and becoming a smokefree nation?