Kaushal said shop owners needed government help to protect themselves. "What we need to be looking at is the very high smoking rates among vulnerable groups. The lower socio-economic, the poorest people have disproportionately high smoking rates, mental health consumers and Māori still have this huge inequity in smoking rates compared to non-Māori, non-Pacific people. "So, these particular groups, the most vulnerable with the highest smoking rates are paying way more than they can now afford." So these are very, very serious crimes and it's because of the tax increase - cigarettes are now like gold."

Source: Otago Daily Times December 31, 2019 06:33 UTC