Otago University academics have come up with a radical proposal which would see the Government take over the production and supply of tobacco.
You'd no longer be able to buy smokes at the supermarket or service station - instead you would rely on state-run dispensaries for your nicotine fix.
The Government's official goal is a smokefree Aotearoa by 2025. But anti-smoking researchers don't believe politicians are taking it seriously enough.
"This is a dangerous, addictive group of products that need tight regulation," says Associate Professor George Thomson, of the University of Otago.
Otago University academics have proposed a radical shakeup of the tobacco industry, removing the profit motive and focusing on supply.
Supermarkets, service stations, and dairies would no longer be able to sell cigarettes, vapes, or other nicotine products.
Instead, they'd only be available at a handful of government-controlled, non-profit dispensaries.
The dispensaries would be there "to supply people who need tobacco, who want tobacco, but in an environment where they're more likely to quit," Prof Thomson says.
Tobacco is currently sold at around 8000 retail outlets across the country. Campaigners want that number slashed to less than 400.
However, ACT leader David Seymour doesn't believe the plan would curb addiction.
"What the Government should be doing is promoting freedom and letting people live as they choose, so long as they're not harming anyone else," he says.
"Smokers already pay far more tax than they cost the health system. If that's what they want to do, what's the problem?"
The Government currently takes $2 billion a year off smokers.
Prof Thomson believes the price of smokes helps discourage young people from taking it up but wants to see tobacco tax revenue go towards helping addicts kick the habit.
