It is appalling that a new tobacconist has set up across the road from Woolworths on TerralongStreet as smoking kills more than 50 Australians every day – about 20,000 every year.

My mother died of lung cancer and now I have a shop 50 metres from my home, dedicated to selling the products which killed her.

The shop plans to open one month before Commonwealth Government legislation cracks down on tobacco and e-vaping sales.

From 1 April, the only legal way to buy nicotine-containing vapes will be from a pharmacist with a prescription from a doctor.

More than 600 additional shops began selling vape products in New South Wales in the first half of2023, which is a drastic increase. Why? What else will these shops sell? Who is monitoring compliance?

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disability in Australia, according to the Department of Health and Aged Care.

The Government want to reduce the national smoking rate to less than 10 per cent by 2025 and 5 per cent or less by 2030, and to 27 per cent or less by 2030 for First Nations people.

Recent raids on around 60 retail stores in Sydney have led to the seizure of approximately 30,000 suspected nicotine containing e-cigarettes, also known as nicotine vapes, as well as tobacco products suspected of being sold without paying tax, with an estimated value of $1.1 million.

Malcolm King