New Zealand plans to ban the purchase of tobacco by the next generation under new legislation aimed at becoming a tobacco-free nation by 2025, the Guardian reported. Under the bill, young people under the age of 14 will never be able to legally buy cigarettes in New Zealand. The age limit will be increased year by year to expand the proportion of the population that is smoke-free for life.
New Zealand has announced it will outlaw smoking for the next generation, so that those who are aged 14 and under today will never be legally able to buy tobacco.
New Zealand has announced it will ban smoking for the next generation, so people under the age of 14 will be unable to legally buy tobacco for life.
New legislation means the legal smoking age will increase every year, to create a smoke-free generation of New Zealanders, associate health minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said on Thursday.
The new law means the legal smoking age will rise year by year to achieve a tobacco-free generation in New Zealand, Deputy Health Minister Dr Ayesha Werar said on December 9.
"This is a historic day for the health of our people," she said.
"This is a historic day for the health of new Zealanders," she said.
The government announced the rising age alongside other measures to make smoking unaffordable and inaccessible, to try to reach its goal of making the country entirely smoke-free within the next four years. Other measures include reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products to very low levels, cutting down the shops where cigarettes could legally be sold, and increasing funding to addiction services. The new laws will not restrict vape sales.
The New Zealand government has announced an increase in the legal smoking age, along with other measures to make tobacco unaffordable and hard to obtain, in an effort to meet its goal of making the country smoke-free within the next four years. The New Zealand government's measures also include reducing the legal level of nicotine in tobacco products to extremely low levels, reducing the number of shops where cigarettes can be sold legally and increasing funding for smoking cessation services. The new law will not restrict the sale of e-cigarettes.
"We want to make sure young people never start smoking so We will make it an offence to sell or supply smoked tobacco products to new cohorts of youth. People aged 14 when the law comes into effect will never be able to legally purchase Tobacco, "Verrall said.
"We want to ensure that young people never smoke, so we will make it an offence to sell or provide tobacco products to a new generation of young people," He said. When the law takes effect, people under the age of 14 will be unable to legally buy tobacco for life."
New Zealand's daily smoking rates have been dropping over time -- down to 11.6% in 2018, From 18% a decade earlier. But smoking rates for Māori and Pacifika were far higher -- 29% for Māori and 18% for Pasifika. "If nothing changes, it would be decades till Māori smoking rates fall below 5%," Verrall said. She said eradicating smoking in the next four years was within reach: "I believe it is. The issue is, though, if we don't change what we're doing, We won't make it for Maori -- and that's [what] the plan is really focused on.
Daily smoking rates in New Zealand have been declining, from 18% in 2011 to 11.6% in 2018. But Maori and Islander smoking rates were much higher, at 29 per cent and 18 per cent respectively. "If nothing changes, it will take decades to get the Maori smoking rate down to less than five percent," Weilar said. She said total smoke-free smoking is achievable within the next four years. "I believe we can do it. The problem, though, is that if we don't change, we're not going to get Maori to that goal -- and that's what the bill is really about."
Smoking has already been widely replaced by vaping among teenage New Zealanders, And is also IOS many young people who would never have taken up smoking -- according to surveying of 19,000 high school students this year, nearly 20% were vaping daily or several times a day, The majority with high nicotine doses. That's compared to 3% of those aged 15-17 who smoked daily in 2018, or 13% who smoked a decade earlier.
Cigarettes have been widely replaced by e-cigarettes among New Zealand teenagers, and e-cigarettes are also attracting many young people who have never smoked before. Nearly 20 percent use e-cigarettes at least once a day, according to a survey of 19,000 high school students this year. Most of them took very high doses of nicotine. By comparison, 3 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds smoked cigarettes daily in 2018 and 13 percent in 2011.
Verrall said the legislation would be introduced in 2022, with the age limits coming in in 2023.
The bill will be introduced in 2022, and age limits on legal smoking will come into force in 2023, Veelar said.