From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
New Zealand passes law banning anyone born after 2009 from ever buying cigarettes
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New Zealand passes into law a unique plan to phase out tobacco smoking by imposing a lifetime ban on young people buying cigarettes.
The law states that tobacco can’t ever be sold to anybody born on or after January 1, 2009.
It means the minimum age for buying cigarettes will keep going up and up. In theory, somebody trying to buy a pack of cigarettes 50 years from now would need ID to show they were at least 63 years old.
But health authorities hope smoking will fade away well before then. They have a stated goal of making New Zealand smoke-free by 2025.
“There is no good reason to allow a product to be sold that kills half the people that use it,” Associate Minister of Health Dr. Ayesha Verrall tells lawmakers in Parliament. “And I can tell you that we will end this in the future, as we pass this legislation.”
The Times of Israel Community.