A Whangarei District councillor struggling to beat his smoking addiction is calling for a total ban on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products.
And yesterday, Brian McLachlan got the unanimous backing of his council for Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai to write to Parliament calling for a total ban their sale by 2025.
He said it would still be legal to smoke tobacco, so tourists could bring their own cigarettes into the country, and people could grow their tobacco for their personal use.
Mr McLachlan has smoked cigarettes for 43 years and has given up "heaps of times".
He said: "Giving up is easy. It's the day after, and the day after that, that's the hard part. What I need is simply not to have cigarettes available at the places I go to fill up my car, buy my groceries or last-minute stuff at the dairy. Whether I can see the smokes or not, I know they're there, and I know I can get them.