korero

smoker’s fault
don brash said recently that māori who smoke, deserve to get lung cancer. which is a bit like saying pakeha’s who get bashed up deserve to go to hospital. neither comment makes sense; but i made the second one, knowing it to be foolish. cigarette smoking is a carefully managed addiction, promoted by multi-billion dollar tobacco companies who profit by hooking people, māori and pakeha, into their product, and tweaking the chemical mix to ensure that once hooked, you won’t be able to stop. but the comment i noticed most in the flurry of condemnation of brash’s remarks were those from the prime minister who said: "what i know is that tobacco smoking is as addictive and habit forming a behaviour as addiction to any hard drug, like morphine or heroine…so i just don't think it's fair to blame the victims of a disease, an addiction, for their plight," she said.
the reason why her comments were so noticeable, is that she actually has the power to do something about the problem. as the prime minister, she has the power to immediately put legislation before the house, banning the production and sale of tobacco products in this country, and stop this deathly destruction of our nation, it’s children and it’s future. she didn’t. her words ring as hollow as brash’s ring of ignorance.
10 october 2006