Quitline gets record number of calls

Photo / Brett Phibbs

A phoneline which helps smokers quit has received a record number of calls following the announcement of huge increases in the price of cigarettes and tobacco.

By 9 o'clock last night, Quitline had received 850 calls from people wanting to kick their habit - a record which tops the 610 calls for an entire day in November 2008 when a new anti-smoking campaign had just been launched.

The line normally receives between 200 and 300 on a Thursday.

Paula Snowden, chief executive for The Quit Group, which runs Quitline, said there was an immediate spike in caller volumes as soon as news broke of three 10 per cent price increases - the first of which took place at midnight on Wednesday.

"Many callers are commenting that they had been waiting to quit for sometime but [the] news has provided the motivation they needed to get serious about it and contact us."

Ms Snowden said the good news for those wanting to kick their habit was that while the cost of smoking was getting more and more expensive, quitting had never been cheaper, with an eight-week supply of nicotine patches now only $3.

The increase in the excise of cigarettes and tobacco was passed in Parliament on Wednesday in the hope it would discourage young people from starting to smoke and encourage others to quit.

Indications from tobacco companies in New Zealand were that the increases would be passed directly to consumers, prompting fears from some that those unable to afford the costs would turn to illegal means.

British American Tobacco said the taxes would see people paying around $4 more for a 30g pouch of roll-your-own tobacco and approximately $1 extra for a packet of 20 cigarettes.

This is in addition to the Government's CPI increase on tobacco in January of 1.6 per cent.

"Consumers already pay considerable tax on their tobacco product, with the industry contributing over one billion dollars in tax every year to Government," said head of corporate and regulatory affairs Susan Jones.

"Not only will this tax increase penalise individuals but experience in New Zealand and overseas has shown that high taxes leads to a surge in the illegal tobacco trade."

Chatrooms and quitting blogs were full of comments yesterday.

Some people feared the price rise would trigger an increase in robberies at dairies and petrol stations while others worried about the impact on children in poor families.

"I think of the kids of smokers now going without the extra loaf of bread etc as we as smokers generally put our fags first," said one person.

One person who is trying to quit said the increases were enough to help them in their crusade. "I hear that by this time next year a packet of smokes is going to cost around $17. I don't want to be paying that sort of money for something that has a 50/50 chance of killing me."

Dr Murray Laugesen, chairman of End Smoking NZ, predicted the increases would help to make a difference "but not for everyone".

He said 80,000 smokers who quit after the 2000 price rise had started smoking again within four months.

A lot of those smokers started smoking roll-your-owns because it was cheaper but the increases also included roll-your-own tobacco this time so it probably wouldn't be such an attractive option now.

Dr Laugesen said many household budgets would already be under pressure and that would only increase if GST also went up.

He expected many smokers would cut down, change to cheaper brands or take more desperate measures.

"People who are the poorest of the poor they are probably going to be smoking it right down to the butt and they are probably only going to smoke a few cigarettes a day."