I can’t stop my dad from smoking but the smokefree law could - Lisa Te Morenga

Professor Lisa Te Morenga and her dad John at her graduation. Photo / Supplied

OPINION

A day after learning the coalition Government made a deal to repeal our smokefree law I told a journalist it was like a punch to the stomach.

I was interviewed in my role as co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa, which advocates for policies that reduce the effects of harmful industries including tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy food.

The outrage I expressed was - and is - genuine for HCA and everyone fighting the long smokefree battle, which we thought we were on the path to winning.

But the pain, anger and disbelief I felt was also personal.

While Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Health Minister Shane Reti and NZ First MP Casey Costello keep repeating their lines, that our smoking rates are 8 per cent and our business-as-usual measures will be just fine to stem the deaths that result from the smokes, that is not the case for Māori, with smoking rates of 19 per cent - my father among them.

Dad is a proud, hard-working Māori man who started smoking after he was called up for national service and joined the NZ Army at the age of 20. Keen to fit in as a model soldier, he quickly learned that smoking and drinking were part of the job. Thus began a life-long addiction to cigarettes.

At 74, he’s retired to Kaikohe and smokes daily but has cut down in recent years and considers himself fit and healthy.

When his habit ruined his teeth, he travelled to India with a mate for dental treatment. This is a man who cares about his appearance, who grew up at a time of entrenched anti-Māori sentiment and wanted to prove he was not one of “those Māori” before having his own cultural renaissance later in his life.

With whānau living nearby, who chain-smoke and have serious health issues, including emphysema, Dad tells me he worries about them.

They would go without food before putting the smokes down, he tells me.

Vapes, a product apparently designed to support adult smokers to quit, was heavily marketed to rangatahi.

But despite his upbeat perspective, I worry about his health. I know he is more susceptible to chest infections during winter and the “smoker’s cough” that gets worse every winter is a constant reminder of the internal damage he is no doubt carrying.

Dad plays his two-pack-a-week habit down when I ask about it. He only smokes when he’s bored or just needs to relax - it’s the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea, he says. But we both know it’s something he can’t do without.

And then there’s the money. I absolutely hate that he needs to buy cigarettes when the pension is barely enough to live on. At two packs per week, that’s $62 that he’s paying to feed an entrenched carcinogenic addiction.

Encouraged by my mother, and the incentive of saving money, Dad quit smoking in the 1980s. He was smokefree for 10 years but after a divorce picked up the habit again just before the ban on smoking in bars, clubs, and workplaces. Dad’s not a drinker and smoking was an important aspect of socialising for him.

'I suspect that those hipster vape shops targeting the younger generations are not places he’d feel comfortable entering.'

Meanwhile, unbeknown to me, my youngest, boundary-pushing son became hooked on vaping at the age of 14, despite my best efforts to educate him on the risks. A product apparently designed to support adult smokers to quit was heavily marketed to rangatahi, with policy responses too little, too late for my son.

If my father used vapes to quit smoking, I’d be fine with that - but the fact my son now shares an addiction to nicotine with his grandfather is heartbreaking.

Dad tried vaping for a while but didn’t like the taste and sickly smell. I suspect too that those hipster vape shops targeting the younger generations are not places he’d feel comfortable entering.

When the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment was passed a year ago today I felt huge hope and relief.

Finally, we had a law that addressed the root cause of the problem by restricting the supply of smoked tobacco products - rather than relying on individuals “choosing” to quit a substance (nicotine) that is on par with heroin and cocaine in addictiveness.

I was relieved the law didn’t rely on further increasing tobacco excise tax for those whānau who struggle to break free of this addiction and end up in a more financially precarious situation every time the taxes go up - my Dad included.

Under the Smokefree law, Dad would no longer be able to pick up a packet of smokes at the petrol station but would have to make a special trip into town to one of only two shops. He thinks this would be enough to help him quit.

The reformulation of cigarettes with only very low levels of nicotine would make his habit easier to break, and the smokefree generation would protect his mokopuna.

As a public health academic I know that to protect the health of a population - and individuals - from entrenched commercial industries like tobacco, and other harms, takes policies and laws.

The smokefree law has the power to cut this deadly industry off at the knees and protect people like my Dad. All I can do now is hold out hope that those in power will be brave enough to cross the floor and stop its repeal.

Professor Lisa Te Morenga (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Te Uri o Hau, Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa) is co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa (HCA) and a nutrition and Māori health researcher based in the Massey University Research Centre for Hauora and Health on the Pukeahu campus in Whanganui-a-Tara. She is a Rutherford Discovery Fellow and Principle Investigator with the Riddet Centre of Research Excellence. She will also speak at the rally and petition handover today at 1pm outside Parliament.