New Zealand will ban the sale of tobacco to young people

It is one of the most severe limitations, or rather restrictions, in the world against the tobacco industry. A resounding “no” to smoking : New Zealand plans to ban young people from buying tobacco, arguing that other efforts to extinguish smoking are taking too long.

Measures to achieve a smoke-free country:

• Banned from buying cigarettes for everyone under 14 years of age or younger in 2027.
• They will also curb the number of retailers authorized to sell tobacco.
• Only the manufacture, import, distribution and sale of smoked tobacco products with very low levels of nicotine will be allowed.
• They will reduce the nicotine levels in all products.
• Design measures aimed at enhancing the attractiveness and addictiveness of tobacco-related products (such as e-cigarettes) will be restricted.

” We want to ensure that young people never start smoking, so we will make it a crime to sell or supply smoked tobacco products to new cohorts of young people,” New Zealand Deputy Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said in a statement. “If nothing changes, it will take decades for Maori smoking rates to drop below 5%, and this government is not prepared to leave the people behind.”

More needs to be done to prevent young people from starting smoking and make it less addictive and attractive , the minister said.

Some decisions in the plan are not legislative, such as practical support measures for smokers, but others will require amendments to existing legislation that are expected to pass next year.

The New Zealand Ministry of Health says that smoking causes one in four cancers and remains the leading cause of preventable death for its population of five million. The number of stores authorized to sell cigarettes will drop sharply to less than 500 from 8,000 today, authorities say.

The proposal, called Aotearoa 2025 Smoke-free Action Plan (Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand), foresees that by next 2025, tobacco consumption in the country will have been reduced to less than 5%. This will be once it is passed into law and processed in 2022.

New Zealand Medical Association President Alistair Humphrey said this policy would be a “watershed moment” for respiratory health. “Once these measures are in place, cigarettes will stop being addictive and reduce the number of young people who start smoking.”