People could need a licence to smoke if suggestions in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia are adopted.
Issuing adult smokers with a smart-card licence may be the solution to reducing unlawful tobacco sales to children and helping adult smokers to quit, write a law professor and a cancer expert.
They say the concept of a smokers' licence balances the reality of mass demand for tobacco against the fact that smoking is highly addictive and leads to premature death.
The system would require retailers to verify all tobacco buyers are adults. This is a long overdue requirement, write Professor Roger Magnusson of the University of Sydney law school and Professor David Currow, CEO of Cancer Institute NSW.
According to 2010 data, 2.5 per cent of children aged 12 to 17 are daily smokers.
"Even if a licence results in some increase in secondary purchasing by adults for children, the overall reduction in access by minors would be substantial and could eclipse any other single tobacco control measure currently under consideration," write the authors.
"It will enable rigorous evaluation of smoking cessation programs, ensuring that public health dollars are focused on evidence-based strategies that yield the best returns.
"A smart-card licence will make it possible to gain a detailed understanding of smokers' purchasing behaviour in response to industry incentives such as retail price discounts."
