Kerre Woodham: Dysfunctional families breeding violent thieves, they're the problem, not ciggies

Now Stuart Nash is back as Minister for police, the first thing he wants to do is see the removal of ciggies from dairies as he thinks that's the answer to preventing ram raids.

Steps have already been taken to get cigarettes out of corner shops, not because of the ram raids, but because of the health effects and the Smokefree Aotearoa policy.

We have the prohibition of the sale of smoked tobacco products to anyone born on or after the 1st of January, 2009. And there's also a restriction on the number of businesses that can sell ciggies and pipe tobacco, no more than 600 nationally. So the writing is on the wall. Eventually there will be no cigarettes at corner stores.  

I just don't see that taking cigarettes out of dairies is going to magically solve the problem of robberies? It's not.

I mean ciggies are going the way of DVDs anyway, and hopefully dairies can find a way to survive without going the way of video stores. I love having the dairy up the road.

When you're not the most organized person in the world, a dairy up the road is a lifesaver when in the middle of baking and there's no baking soda, or there's no bread or you're out of milk.

Dairies are also generally family-run businesses. They're hard-working people, they're nice people, and they’re part of the neighbourhood.

I'd hate to see them go.

A lot of them have introduced vape outlets as part of a way to survive; I guess that's pivoting. They will find a way to survive if they need to.  

But as Police Minister, taking ciggies out of dairies is not going to be the answer, I can tell him that for nothing.

As a texter said this morning “so what, the answer to the ram raids on Glengarry’s is that they stopped selling wine. The answer to the burglaries on the Michael Hill retailers is that they stop selling jewellery.”

They're not the problem. Their product is not the problem. Even cigarettes are not the problem.

Entitled dysfunctional families breeding violent thieves, they're the problem.  

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