With the help of UNSW lecturer Dr Alanya Drummond, North Sydney Council will become the first city to ban smoking in all public areas in an effort to ensure healthier and more liveable cities. Governments are addicted to tax revenue from harmful activities. It is stopping them from doing what is in society's best interests. A UNSW study shows that a large proportion of bowel cancers in Australia are preventable by adopting a healthy lifestyle – particularly for men. Doctors should consider using e-cigarettes to help patients who have repeatedly failed to quit tobacco, a new study says. Tax increases that will see a packet of cigarettes costing A$40 may discourage smoking, but could end up having unintended consequences for poorer smokers, write Katie Hirono and Katherine Smith. The recent decision to effectively ban e-cigarettes will hurt poor and disadvantaged smokers the most, writes Colin Mendelsohn. There is compelling evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes can be a safe and effective way to help smokers quit, writes Colin Mendelsohn. Prison bans will not reduce smoking rates unless more support is given to prisoners to help them kick the habit once and for all, according to UNSW researchers. The health advantages for younger people quitting cigarettes are well known. Now a study has found older smokers can reap similar benefits and save the health system billions of dollars. Depression, alcohol and drug dependence are indiscriminate killers. It doesn’t matter how wealthy, funny or beautiful you are, write Katherine Mills, Frances Kay-Lambkin and Maree Teesson.