The Fair-trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) has said government was ‘obsessed’ with alcohol and cigarettes.

“What we find here is an obsession with alcohol and cigarettes. We know that alcohol has now been permitted and we submit, on the evidence, that it is far more harmful to health services,” advocate Arnold Subel SC – for Fita – told the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday morning.

This as the association’s highly anticipated challenge to the ban on cigarette and tobacco sales finally got underway.