Put more money from tobacco tax into helping smokers quit

New Otago University research shows we're floundering in our quest to be smokefree by 2025... needing five times as many Maori to quit each year, and twice as many Pakeha.

The Government receives around 1.8 billion dollars a year directly from tobacco excise tax, and spends around 70 million of that, or four percent, on cessation.

Action on Smoking and Health's Boyd Broughton says more of the money that comes from smokers, should go back to help them stop.

He says they have new tools to help people quit that they didn't have when the 2025 goal was set... which give people a better chance of stopping for good.