Timeline. The evolution of smoking cessation in Australia

About one in every two smokers dies from smoking-related causes every year. In response to this, over the past four decades, numerous countries have introduced successful tobacco control policies. Despite this, smoking persists, especially among more disadvantaged social groups. The relatively long history of smoking cessation policies allows for a better understanding of what works, what does not, why, and how. However, the social, cultural, and regulatory complexity of smoking prevents any straightforward replication of successful policies within a different context. Yet, sound scientific research allows for the construction and verification of hypotheses about how to replicate cessation elsewhere. Australia constitutes an ideal case-study through which to achieve this aim. This is because Australia is a leading country in tobacco control, despite people have easier access to nicotine through traditional tobacco products than they do via the use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, despite the latter being less harmful than the former. These features, combined with the abundance of empirical studies on the country, allow for a sound and comprehensive policy analysis.