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.

A former mental health patient, who was denied the right to smoke, believes allowing addicted patients to smoke has far more positives than negatives.

High court action will be launched tomorrow against a smoking ban in an acute mental health facility.

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

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.

A new smartphone app that shows smokers how much cigarettes will destroy their looks has been developed to encourage people to quit while they're young.

New Zealand's largest hospitals are asking job applicants to disclose whether they smoke.

It’s been more than seven months since Greg Dixon walked away from his favourite habit: smoking lovely, lovely cigarettes. Does he feel better? Maybe. Has he become a rabid anti-smoking fascist? Definitely not

Actor Jim Carrey has given up alcohol and cigarettes, and embraced a strict new diet as part of a life-changing health kick.

"What is the powerful hold international tobacco peddlers seem to have over governments around the world?" asks Brian Rudman.

Forcing cigarettes up to $40 for a pack of 20 would achieve New Zealand's smokefree goal virtually overnight, important new research indicates.

Simon Chapman says Big Tobacco is losing ground on plain packs but is homing in on less fortunate countries.

Coca-Cola says there is not enough evidence to link the death of an Invercargill woman with her excessive Coke drinking, despite a coroner's report that found otherwise.

An Australian TV star has caused opened a can of worms after being busted smoking while pregnant.

We don't smoke and pretty much no one we know smokes so if our daughter sees someone puffing away in the street she is captivated, writes Shelley Bridgeman.