New Zealand wants to be smoke-free by 2025. To get a big step closer to the goal, the South Pacific state passes a law that prohibits young people from starting to smoke. As a result, the minimum age to buy tobacco is increasing every year.
New Zealand has passed a law banning young people from smoking for life. According to the law, no one born on or after January 1, 2009 can ever legally purchase tobacco. This means that the minimum age to buy cigarettes will increase every year. The law will come into force from 2023.
Theoretically, someone who wants to buy a pack of cigarettes in 50 years' time would have to be at least 63 years old. However, health authorities hope that no one will stop smoking by then. New Zealand has set itself the goal of becoming smoke-free by 2025. MPs voted 76 to 43 cross-party to pass the law.
The ban will be accompanied by a range of other measures to make smoking less affordable and accessible. These include drastically reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products. In addition, cigarettes may only be sold in tobacco shops and no longer in corner shops and supermarkets. The number of stores that are legally allowed to sell cigarettes nationwide will be reduced by a tenth from 6,000 to just 600.
The liberal ACT party, which opposed the law, said many small corner shops would have to go out of business if they were no longer allowed to sell cigarettes. However, the law has no effect on smoking e-cigarettes, which are already more popular in New Zealand than ordinary cigarettes.
According to the latest data, the number of people who smoke every day has fallen to 8 percent - from 9.4 percent last year. That's the lowest rate since records began. Ten years ago the figure was 16 percent. Smoking rates among Indigenous Māori remain higher, with around 20 percent reporting smoking.
Deputy Health Secretary Ayesha Verrall said in passing the bill: "Thousands of people will live longer, healthier lives and the health system will be $5 billion better off if smoking-related diseases, including many types of cancer, go untreated." The number of heart attacks, strokes and amputations would also decrease.
In New Zealand, the sale of cigarettes is already restricted to persons over the age of 18, tobacco packs must carry graphic health warnings and cigarettes must be sold in standardized packs. In recent years New Zealand has also introduced a series of hefty tax increases on cigarettes.
The law change was welcomed by several health organizations. The Health Coalition Aotearoa said the new law is the culmination of decades of hard work by health and community organizations.
