Page 2724 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021
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• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled services provide health promotion activities and intervention activities such as brief intervention, counselling, and support for accessing NRT.
• Cancer Council ACT offers a range of cessation support services for people in the general community and in workplaces.
• Canberra Health Services provide NRT support, advice and Quitline referrals for patients in hospital who are smokers.
• The ACT Government is also supporting women to stop smoking when pregnant as part of its commitment to the Safer Baby Bundle, a national package of education and awareness measures aimed at reducing rates of stillbirth.
• The ACT Health Help to Quit webpage provides information on the ACT services assisting people to quit-smoking, including the Cancer Council ACT, Quitline and ACT pharmacies.
In addition to the programs outlined above the ACT Government has taken a number of steps to further reduce the harm related to tobacco smoke.
The ACT has introduced Smoke-free environments. These can help smokers who are trying to quit by encouraging more quit attempts and increasing the chances of a successful quit attempt. Evidence shows that the longer a smoke-free law is in effect, the more likely adults are to attempt to quit smoking and become former smokers. Smoke-free places also reduce the likelihood of uptake of smoking and associated nicotine addiction by young people.
Under the Smoke Free Public Places Act 2003, and its associated Declarations, smoking and vaping is prohibited in the ACT in:
• enclosed public spaces
• outdoor eating and drinking places
• at under-age functions
• within 10 metres of children’s play equipment in public play spaces (by declaration)
• at declared public events; and
• within 5 metres of public transport stops and interchanges.
Smoking is also prohibited in cars with children under the Smoking in Cars with Children (Prohibition) Act 2011.
In 2016, the ACT Government introduced the Smoke-Free Legislation Amendment Act 2016. The 2016 amendments introduced a new definition of smoking products so that the sale and promotion of e-cigarettes would be regulated in the same way as tobacco and herbal products. This Bill was passed, making the ACT the first Australian jurisdiction to regulate e-cigarettes.
In 2019, ACT Health published a fact sheet on the Health impacts of e-cigarettes for children, young people and adults to provide advice about the risks and issues associated with these products.
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