New Law In New Zealand Bans Young People Born After 2010 From Ever Buying Tobacco

We all know how smoking is injurious to health. Its harmful effects are reminded in advertisements, posters and even the box of a pack of cigarettes. But it's not like someone can ban you from ultimately from buying smokes, right? Wrong.

New Zealand is getting a new law that will prevent all young people from buying tobacco only in their lives. It will be an offence to sell or supply smoked tobacco products to anyone aged 14 or under when legislation kicks in from 2023.

Pexels/Irina Iriser

Under the world-leading plans only older generations will be able to buy tobacco products. And even then, the products will only be allowed to contain low levels of nicotine.

¡°Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand and causes one in four cancers,¡± Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall explained in Parliament. ¡°We want to make sure young people never start smoking so we will make it an offence to sell or supply smoke tobacco products to new cohorts of young people.

¡°People aged 14 when the law comes into effect will never be able to legally purchase tobacco.¡±

The Associate Health Minister of the country added that the Smokefree 2025 Action Plan was designed to stop young people from taking up smoking, which is the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand.

The New Zealand government has also pledged to ¡°significantly¡± reduce the number of shops allowed to sell tobacco products, ¡°especially in low-income communities¡±, believing smoking to be a key factor in life expectancy gaps.

By going smokefree, we could live in a country where our tamariki spend more quality years with their tupuna, we reduce the number of high-risk pregnancies, fewer people are in hospital with diseases and people have more money to spend on the things they need and enjoy.

¡ª Ayesha Verrall (@drayeshaverrall) December 8, 2021

According to the Daily Mail, there will be additional age groups added to the ban each year until it's illegal for the whole country to light up. Under the rules, cigarettes with only tiny amounts of nicotine will be available for purchase, however, there will only be 500 shops across New Zealand that will be permitted to sell them.

"We want to make sure young people never start smoking so we will make it an offence to sell or supply smoke tobacco products to new cohorts of young people," she said. "While smoking rates are heading in the right direction, we need to do more, faster to reach our goal, the associate health minister added.

She added that the New Zealand Government expected to save as much as $NZ5 ($A4.74) billion on future health expenditure from the changes.

Pexels/ lilartsy

The government has also been increasing the price of smokes in order to prevent people from smoking.

What do you think about this new law?

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