New Zealand Bans Cigarette Sales to Anyone Born After 2008 For Life

New Zealand has just promised to make sure no one born after 2008 is ever able to buy a cigarette by banning the sale of tobacco throughout their lives. “We want to make sure young people never start smoking,” Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verall said.

The number of stores allowed to sell cigarettes will be diminished and the sale of smokes will be banned from grocery stores and convenience shops. About 13% of New Zealand adults smoke but rate goes up to about 31 percent among the indigenous Maori population, according to the BBC.

“If nothing changes, it would be decades till Maori smoking rates fall below five per cent, and this government is not prepared to leave people behind.” Under the new legislation, starting in 2024 the number of authorized sellers of tobacco will drop from 8,000 to 500. Then in 2025, nicotine levels will be reduced and the country hopes to have a “smoke free” generation by 2027.

New Zealand is determined to achieve a national goal of reducing its national smoking rate to 5% by 2025, with the aim of eventually eliminating it altogether.

At the moment, 13% of New Zealand's adults smoke, with the rate much higher among the indigenous Maori population, where it soars to almost a third. Maori also suffer a higher rate of disease and death.

New Zealand's health ministry says smoking causes one in four cancers and remains the leading cause of preventable death for its five million strong population. The industry has been the target of legislators for more than a decade now.

As part of the crackdown announced on Thursday, the government also introduced major tobacco controls, including significantly restricting where cigarettes can be sold to remove them from supermarkets and corner stores.

The number of shops authorised to sell cigarettes will be drastically reduced to under 500 from about 8,000 now, officials say. In recent years, vaping - smoking e-cigarettes which produce a vapour that also delivers nicotine - has become far more popular among younger generations than cigarettes.

New Zealand health authorities warn however, that vaping is not harmless. Researchers have found hazardous, cancer-causing agents in e-cigarette liquids as well. But in 2017 the country adopted vaping as a pathway to help smokers quit tobacco.