Cigarettes were regarded as essential items during lockdown, despite the harm they cause to communities. OPINION: There were no takeaways, flat whites or fresh-baked pies. No new magazines to read. No haircuts to be had. Lockdown level 4 was reduced to essentials only. Such as cigarettes. In the scramble to categorise what was in and what was out, you may not have given much thought to the cigarette conundrum. Shops were to keep supplying a product that kills 13 New Zealanders a day, while we locked ourselves down to save … the lives of New Zealanders. Cigarettes were deemed so essential that a tobacco factory in Petone kept operating while the country was at a standstill, even though the ma... [Read more]