Will New Zealand be the first country to become smoke free? Officials want to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes in the future and close 95% of tobacco shops by 2025 – but critics warn it will lead to a black market. The bill, the first of its kind in the world, is set to come up for a vote next week in the House of Representatives. Today they will never be able to buy cigarettes
New Zealand could become the first country in the world to pass a smoke-free law, if the law passes through parliament. The plan makes smoking illegal, and a ban on ever selling cigarettes to people born from 2009, with the goal of creating a generation that will never smoke. The state also wants to reduce the number of tobacco retailers by 95 percent, making it much harder to get cigarettes.
In addition, the promoters of the law plan to reduce the nicotine content in cigarettes that are still produced below addiction levels Hoping to keep people from getting addicted. If approved, the measures will come into force in January 2023 – but critics fear they could fuel a black market.
Health Minister Aisha Varel led the smoke-free plan (Aotearoa 2025) on which the state’s House of Representatives is expected to vote next week. Supporters are optimistic that the bill will pass. If so, access to cigarettes will be dramatically cut from January next year. New Zealand is already in a strong position to reduce its smoking levels – it was one of the first countries to ban smoking in indoor workplaces in 1990 and in restaurants and bars in 2004.
Since 2010, taxes on cigarettes have increased by 165 percent, a pack of Marlboro equivalent to $21. In New York it costs $14. Graphic images of shrunken lungs and warnings cover the New Zealand box packaging. Tobacco use is still New Zealand’s leading cause of preventable death and disease. But critics worry that New Zealand’s low-nicotine policy, in particular, will fuel a black market.