(ORDO NEWS) — The New Zealand government has announced plans to ban young people from buying tobacco products. But under the new law, anyone born before 2008 will still be allowed to buy tobacco.
“We want to make sure young people never smoke, so we will make it a crime to sell or supply tobacco products to new groups of young people,” said Deputy Health Minister Dr. Aisha Verrall. “People under the age of 14, when the law came into force, will never be able to buy tobacco legally.”
The current legal age for smoking in New Zealand is 18 years old. Thus, the law will affect young people born after 2008 in about four years.
The new law could lead to the curious situation where, 65 years after the law comes into force, people in New Zealand can still potentially buy cigarettes if they provide documents proving that they are 80 years old. However, there is a strong likelihood that by then stores in the country will no longer sell tobacco products due to low demand caused by the law.
According to the country’s health ministry , smoking-related diseases are the leading cause of preventable deaths in the country, so banning smoking is a rational and very important policy step.
“Every day you meet someone who has had problems with tobacco,” added Verrall.
While smoking rates in New Zealand have declined significantly along with the rest of the developed world, tobacco users still constitute about 22% of the country’s population. This is a huge number of people who are susceptible to smoking-related diseases.
All in all, this is an important step for a Pacific island nation. In the end, this ban will undoubtedly have an impressive impact on reducing tobacco-related deaths.
See also: A “vaccine” for nicotine addiction has been created .
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