Ivan Dean's calls to raise the legal smoking age to 21 and to get smokers to "refrain from using any vaping product" (The Examiner, Friday March 22) when we are in the middle of an acute health crisis are both opportunistic and hopelessly out of touch with small business. While the article presents a tenuous and ill-timed argument for changing Tasmania's smoking laws, it is also a kick in the guts for small businesses just as many have been brought to their knees by the coronavirus.
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I agree that traditional smoking is a key risk factor affecting people's chance of recovery after contracting COVID-19. But does Mr Dean really think rushing through legislation now to increase the age at which people can start smoking will address the problem of long-term smokers requiring additional healthcare during this crisis?From what we know the health impact of coronavirus, albeit extremely substantial and serious, will be relatively short. On the other hand, the impact on small business has already been felt hard and will continue long after the virus has been contained.
Like it or not traditional cigarettes are still a legal product, and are an important part of the business model for many small retailers. Mr Dean's proposal would inevitably reduce small business trade even further, and would be the final nail in the coffin for many. In addition, Mr Dean went on to suggest measures be put in prevent smokers from taking up alternative such as vaping. In fact, if anything were to be done now, it should be to legalise and regulating vaping. Evidence is rapidly increasing that vaping is much less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
This would enable retailers to sell a much less harmful product instead of traditional cigarettes. Importantly, because the price of cigarettes has been jacked up so much with government taxes, vaping products are also up to 10 times cheaper than traditional cigarettes.The evidence is also increasing that vaping is an effective smoking cessation tool. Recently the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners conditionally supported vaping as a means of helping smokers to quit cigarettes. Given that the statistics show that the places in Tasmania with the highest smoking rates are also the most socially disadvantaged, allowing people addicted to nicotine access to a much cheaper product can only be a good thing.
I don't argue that we shouldn't address our appalling smoking rates. And I don't argue that smoking related illnesses will increase pressure on our health system as we try to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. We must do more. But rather than persisting with the flawed T21 social experiment for which there is no evidence it will actually work and which will hurt small business, I encourage Mr Dean and other law-makers to look seriously at vaping. Now is the time for Tasmania to take the lead again by moving to legalise and regulate vaping.
- Robert Mallett is chief executive of the Tasmanian Small Business Council.
