The tax increase on tobacco last week prompted a record
number of smokers to reach for the phone rather than their
cigarettes.
Tobacco tax rose 10% from midnight last Wednesday, raising
the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes by about $1.
Further 10% increases will go through on January 1 next year
and January 1, 2012.
Loose tobacco was hit with an immediate 14% increase to bring
it into line with cigarettes.
Quit Group senior communications adviser Chris Pitt said the
tax increase was "the kind of trigger a lot of people needed"
to quit smoking.
Quitline received a record 860 calls and 395 website visits
on Thursday.
"We spoke to more people in one day than we ever have
before," he said.
Three times as many registrations than usual took place
between Thursday and Sunday, with 2500 people registering for
the Quitline programme.
Traffic volumes were expected to level-out but the response
had been great, he said.
The programme had a 21% success rate, as it took an average
of six attempts to quit, compared with a 4% success rate for
going "cold turkey".
"Although it's becoming more expensive to smoke, it's never
been cheaper to quit," Mr Pitt said.
Mornington Pharmacy intern pharmacist Jason Burgess had
noticed a "slight increase" in the number of people coming in
for assistance with quitting.
Some people he had spoken to credited the tax increase with
pushing them to give quitting another go.
High-strength patches and gum, which were
Government-subsidised, were popular, he said.
Unichem Knox Pharmacy pharmacist and owner Trudy Scott-Walker
said the pharmacy had been busy during the past month with
customers wanting to quit smoking but the tax increase had
not made a significant impact.
Other pharmacies contacted had also not noticed any change in
the number of customers want to quit smoking. ellie.constantine@odt.co.nz
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