Stub out cigarettes: Bold plan to cut Australia’s smoking rate

Smokers may be forced to purchase cigarettes from a pharmacy, or could even require a tobacco prescription from their doctor, under options being considered by a new research centre.

The University of Queensland’s new Centre for Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame wants to stamp out smoking across the country.

“What we’re talking about here is the plan to get down to very low smoking prevalence, so generally less than five per cent,” Director of the centre, Associate Professor Coral Gartner, told Dee Dee.

“At the moment we have about 15 per cent of the adult population that smokes.”

Professor Gartner said the research centre will explore a range of options to curb smoking.

In addition to possible prescriptions, or changing where cigarettes can be sold, another option up for consideration is banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after a certain year.

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