Mike Jeffreys speaks with Dr Joe Kosterich about the surge in black-market tobacco sales. He says Australia’s heavy cigarette taxes and restrictive vaping laws are repeating the mistakes of 1920s alcohol prohibition — driving demand underground and enriching criminals.

With legal cigarettes overpriced and vaping hard to access, black-market sales and consumption are rising. Dr Kosterich argues harsher penalties won’t solve the problem and points to New Zealand’s model, where sensible regulation has cut smoking rates and kept the black market small.