Anti-tobacconist calls for licensed tobacco retailers to be slashed

A leading anti-tobacco campaigner has said thatWestern Australiacould halve its adult smoking rates by slashing the number of retailers licensed to sell tobacco, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report.

Health Department figures show almost 4,000 outlets sell cigarettes or tobacco: roughly one for every 450 adults.

The head ofAustralia’s Council on Smoking and Health, Mike Daube, wants that figure gradually reduced to fewer than 1,000 during the next few years.

“I think a few hundred around the state is reasonable while there’s still a bit of smoking going on” Daube said.

“If we took something like 10 per cent out of the 4,000 each year then the smoker wouldn’t notice a dramatic difference.

“And I think this is the kind of creative approach we need to take now.”