6 days ago
The illegal act Jackie 'O' Henderson is willing to do amid major nationwide crackdown
Jackie 'O' Henderson shocked listeners on Wednesday morning when she made a surprising admission about her addiction to menthol cigarettes.
The radio star, 50, was discussing the 'massive' federal excise on tobacco amid concerns of a growing black market with her co-star Kyle Sandilands when they rang up NSW Premier Chris Minns to discuss the matter.
Mr Minns, 45, told the hosts that one of the unfortunate side effects of the federal excise is that the huge price hike on tobacco products has created a black market where they are sold at significantly lower prices.
'There's something I hate about this [excise]. Law-abiding people are being dragged into a black market,' he said.
'They go to the store and either buy a $20 packet of illegal cigarettes, or a $60 legal one. It's just a no-brainer for them.'
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Jackie then made the surprising admission that she was also considering resorting to purchasing cigarettes on the black market, due to the ban on menthol-flavoured tobacco products.
'I am going [to go black market] because of the menthols ban. You have given me no choice there,' she told Mr Minns.
Mr Minns then advised Jackie to 'always follow the law' when it comes to purchasing tobacco products - adding it was a crime to sell cigarettes on the black market, but not to purchase them.
Her surprising admission comes ahead of the NSW budget on June 24, of which Mr Minns said a decision had to be made about resources devoted to combating illicit tobacco sales.
It could mean reallocating police away from domestic violence, youth crime and gang cases to regulate tobacco sales.
'We may need to do that because I'm concerned as a constituent and as a father to see the number of high street premises being taken over by tobacco firms,' he told reporters on Monday.
'But I wonder whether we need to roll this back a couple of steps and look more closely at the federal government's massive excise on tobacco.'
The excise has driven down the number of smokers in NSW to about one in nine adults, the state's most recent population health survey shows.
The radio star was discussing the 'massive' federal excise on tobacco amid concerns of a growing black market with her co-star Kyle Sandilands, when they called NSW Premier Chris Minns (pictured) to discuss the matter
'It's meant that many people who wouldn't go near an illegal behaviour ordinarily are buying illicit tobacco almost on a daily basis,' he said.
He called for the size of the excise and its influence on illicit tobacco sales to be investigated.
Jackie previously shared her own personal story with addiction with listeners during The Kyle and Jackie O Show back in October.
Fighting back tears, Jackie shared that she checked into rehab facility the Betty Ford Clinic in California in November 2022, when she took an extended break from The Kyle and Jackie O Show that she previously claimed was due to long Covid.
Known for treating Hollywood stars including Keith Urban, Robert Downey Jr. and Lindsay Lohan, Betty Ford charges anywhere from AU$45,000 to AU$90,000 for a month-long stay.
Jackie revealed on-air that her long-time friend Gemma had been instrumental into getting Jackie into rehab.
The presenter recalled: 'It came to a head and [Gemma] was such a great friend. She said "I'm sorry Jackie, but you're not going to taper off this, it will never work. I'm checking you into rehab at the end of the week and we're going".'
'I said "don't be ridiculous, Gemma like that is such overkill. I don't have a problem that bad that I need to go to Betty Ford".'
'And she said no, we're going and we're doing it and I thank God she did that. I believe she saved my life,' Jackie admitted.
She said they caught a night flight out of Australia and boarded at the 'last moment' to avoid being seen and then jetted over to LA, where Gemma stayed with her for two days before she checked into the Betty Ford Clinic.
At the time, Kyle - who was unaware of Jackie's drug addiction - told their listeners Jackie was taking a break to 'focus on her health' after contracting Covid.
Instead, she was secretly flown out of Australia to be treated for 28 days at the world famous rehab facility for an addiction to painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol.
