Abstract
‘Zombie arguments’ that Aotearoa New Zealand’s smoke-free measures will boost illicit tobacco trade are false. The evidence points in the opposite direction: illicit tobacco use has not increased as a proportion of the tobacco market, despite substantial tobacco tax increases,
which tobacco companies predicted would boost illicit trade. It has also substantially declined in absolute terms in tandem with declines in smoking prevalence and consumption. Arguments about growth in illicit trade come from tobacco companies but are given new life
whenever government and media commentators echo them. Instead, plans to repeal our smoke-free legislation should be reversed to enable a rapid and equitable fall in smoking and, with it, the demand for illicit tobacco.