More pressure is piling on the Government to back down on reversing smokefree legislation.
But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is standing in staunch defence of scrapping the world-leading laws.
Coming Thursday to a theatre in Hawke's Bay is satire courtesy of the Government's rollback of smoking laws.
Actor Neill Gordon and his theatre mates are appalled by the coalition's pledge.
"What I would like Dr Shane 'Cigaretti' [Shane Reti] to do is to actually release the medicine that he's using that allows him to sleep at night," Gordon laughed.
They decided humour was the best medicine and will be performing a variety show.
"We're in a situation where you laugh or you cry, and so we've decided to laugh at them," he said.
Meanwhile, a group of 18 Northland emergency doctors have penned an open letter to Health Minister Dr Reti, imploring the Government to change its mind, saying "the world-leading legislation should be celebrated not repealed".
"We have had enough of delivering bad news about someone's new diagnosis of lung cancer," the letter read.
"The burden that tobacco use has on our emergency departments is incalculable.
"The Government was not voted in on a promise to bring back lung cancer."
Newshub asked Luxon what his message was in response to those doctors.
"What I'd just say to you is even if you take the last decade, smoking daily has gone from 16 percent of Kiwis, down to 8 percent of Kiwis and we're going to continue to do that," he said.
However, the expert studies keep rolling in. The latest from Otago University found the soon-to-be-scrapped laws would have left Kiwis financially better off to the tune of $46 billion by 2050, due to both savings from spending on tobacco and income through fewer workers getting sick or dying prematurely.
The study's author, public health Professor Nick Wilson is pleading with the Government to deal in evidence.
"Rolling back these laws would be a very big mistake," Prof Wilson stressed. "This is not evidence-informed policymaking, it looks like ideology."
The opposition and architects of the smokefree policy are hoping for a backdown.
"I think the Government has underestimated how important the smokefree laws are to our health system, and the support they have amongst the public," Labour's health spokesperson Dr Ayesha Verrall said.
"Just remember none of the Labour Government's legislation has actually been enacted or taken effect at this time," Luxon said on Monday. "We're sticking with the current status quo."
It's a commitment that doesn't seem to be going down well at all.
