The Cancer Society says Auckland City Council should introduce its ban on smoking in public three years earlier than planned - making the city smoke-free by 2015.

More Pacific Island countries are making moves to increase taxes on tobacco in a bid to reduce the high incidence of smoking - and related deaths - in the region.

New Zealand's target of having fewer than 5 per cent of the population smoking by 2025 is too hard and it will take "generations" to achieve, researchers say.

A Hamilton radio personality - sick of his fiance being leered at and heckled - wants action to address antisocial behaviour in the central city's plaza.

Corrections Minister Anne Tolley has called a successful court challenge against smoking bans in prisons a "waste of time" because the Government has already changed the law to justify the bans.

An urgent rule change by the Corrections Department which banned smoking in prisons has been ruled unlawful by a High Court judge.

SkyCity is targeting smokers with an expanded casino area designed for customers who want to have a cigarette while gambling.

Children are more likely than their parents to give an accurate report of how much second-hand smoke they are exposed to at home and in the car, a new study has found.

The increase in tobacco tax in January may have pushed the smoking rate below 16 per cent, a survey suggests.

Forcing up tobacco taxes every year is having an effect. It's hitting the price point for many smokers, galvanising their resolve to quit.

Beeby Harding and her whanau are trying to raise $5000 for their marae by quitting smoking.

Plain tobacco packaging doesn't slow down transaction times for retailers, according to a study supported by anti-smoking groups.

Patients in closed mental health wards at Waitemata District Health Board are allowed out for cigarettes as a reward for good behaviour, a patient alleges.

Bus stops, train stations and ferry terminals should be declared "smoke-free" from September, the Auckland Council parks forum has recommended.

Beaches, civic plazas and on-street cafes will be made voluntarily smokefree across the Auckland region, under a draft council plan.

The Health Ministry said it was working on the idea of forcing tobacco retailers to be listed on a state register of tobacco outlets.

A legal high lobbyist says synthetic cannabis is a low-risk psychoactive substance that had not caused any death and was statistically safer than alcohol.

New Zealand communities are battling to rid themselves of synthetic cannabis - with the Government's promised solution months away.

A Dunedin father says he was tossed around his house "like paper" by his son trying to go cold turkey from the synthetic cannabis product, K2.

It was "insane" for a New Zealand-born mine worker to smoke in an underground coal mine in Queensland, a New Zealand coal mining industry boss says.

American-style attack ads that liken cigarettes to children's food treats spiked with shards of sharp glass are being promoted as an effective way to further reduce smoking in New Zealand.

A 3-month-old baby was the youngest of 17 children found by police living in unsafe drug houses during the annual cannabis blitz.

A hardline opponent of electronic cigarettes fears that rather than helping people to quit ordinary cigarettes, they may keep them hooked on a daily dose of tobacco smoke.