New Zealand’s parliament passes a new anti-smoking law that will ban future generations from buying cigarettes.
Persons born on 1 January 2009 and after 1 January 2009 can no longer purchase cigarettes, which will result in a fine of NZ$150,000.
This ban is for life for those in the group.
The new cigarette law also reduces the amount of nicotine allowed in tobacco products, as well as reducing the number of cigarette sellers by up to 90%.
By the end of 2023, the places officially authorized to sell cigarettes will be reduced from the current 6,000 shops to just 600.
“There is no good reason to allow the sale of a product that kills half of the people who use it,” Health Minister Ayesha Verrall told parliament in Wellington.
“And this is stopped in the future because the law has already been approved by the parliament.”
Health Minister Ayesha said New Zealand’s healthcare system could save billions of dollars as it no longer had to deal with diseases caused by smoking such as cancer, heart attack, stroke or amputation.
He said the law would make a big difference to future generations, as well as that younger generations would have better health.
Concerns about the emergence of a black market
To pass this law, there were 76 votes in favor and 43 against in parliament.
The liberal ACT party, which opposes it, says many of New Zealand’s small shops, or “dairies” as they are called, will go out of business because they can no longer sell cigarettes.
“We are against the law. This is bad law, bad policy,” said ACT party deputy leader Brooke van Velden.
“There could be no better outcome for New Zealanders.”
He said the new law is too “deep” a policy of state interference and would create many black markets instead.
According to Brooke, the ban rarely works, instead it has unintended consequences.
This new law does not regulate ‘vaping’, which is now more popular than smoking.
New Zealand is smoke-free in 2025
Last month, NZ statistics said that 8% of New Zealand adults smoked, down from 16% about 10 years ago.
Meanwhile, about 8.3% of adults vape, down 1% from six years ago.
Smoking is still a habit among the Maoris, the indigenous people of New Zealand, where 20% of them report smoking.
New Zealand had previously implemented regulations restricting the sale of cigarettes, i.e. only those aged 18 and over.
In addition, cigarette packets must be accompanied by a warning about the dangers of smoking, as well as the dimensions according to current regulations.
New Zealand has also implemented steep tax increases for cigarette products in recent years.
The approval of the new tobacco law has been accepted by several health institutions.
The Aotearoa Health Coalition says the new law is the culmination of years of support from various health and public organizations.
New Zealand is already one of the developed OECD countries with the fewest adult smokers.
New Zealand’s ambition is to become a smoke-free country by 2025.
Only Bhutan has the strictest smoking laws, which banned the sale of cigarettes in 2010.
This article was produced by Sastra Wijaya of ABC News
