People 14 or younger by 2027 will never be allowed to buy cigarettes, one proposal says.
New Zealand plans to ban young people from buying cigarettes in their lifetime in one of the world’s harshest crackdowns on the tobacco industry, arguing other efforts to stop smoking have been lost. too much time.
People 14 and under will by 2027 never be allowed to buy cigarettes in the Pacific nation of 5 million, part of a proposal released Thursday that would also limit the number of retailers. Retailers are allowed to sell cigarettes and cut nicotine levels in all products.
“We want to make sure that young people never start smoking, so we will consider the sale or supply of tobacco products to new youth groups as an offense,” the Deputy Minister said. New Zealand Health Department Ayesha Verrall said in a statement.
“If nothing changes, it will be decades before the Maori smoking rate falls below 5%, and this government is not willing to abandon the people.”
Currently, 11.6% of all New Zealanders over the age of 15 smoke, a rate that rises to 29% among Indigenous Maori adults, according to government data.
The government will consult with a Māori health task force in the coming months before introducing the law into parliament in June next year, with the aim of bringing it in by the end of 2022.
The restrictions will then be introduced in phases from 2024, starting with a drastic reduction in the number of authorized sellers, followed by a reduction in nicotine requirements by 2025 and the creation of “smokeless” generation. drugs” from 2027.
This package of measures would make New Zealand’s tobacco retail industry one of the most restricted in the world, second only to Bhutan, which banned the sale of tobacco outright. New Zealand’s neighbour, Australia was the first country in the world to mandate plain cigarette packaging in 2012.
The New Zealand government says that while current measures such as simple packaging and sales tax have reduced tobacco consumption, tougher steps are needed to achieve the target of less than 5% of the population smoking. daily medicine by 2025.
The government says the new regulations will halve the country’s smoking rate within 10 years of they come into effect.
Smoking kills around 5,000 people each year in New Zealand, making it one of the country’s leading causes of preventable death. The government says four out of five smokers start before the age of 18.
“Crime Wave”
Health authorities welcomed the crackdown, while retailers expressed concern about the impact on their business and warned of the emergence of a black market.
The government has not given specific details on how the new rules will be controlled or whether they will apply to visitors to the country.
New Zealand Medical Association President Alistair Humphrey said in a statement: “Smoking kills 14 New Zealanders every day and two-thirds of smokers will die from smoking.”
“This action plan offers some hope of realizing our 2025 smoke-free Aotearoa goal and keeping our tamariki (Maori children) smoke-free.”
However, Dairy and Business Owners Group, a lobbying group for local convenience stores known as yogurt in New Zealand, said that while advocating for a smoke-free country, the plan Government plans will destroy many businesses.
The group’s president, Sunny Kaushal, told Stuff.co.nz: “This is purely theoretical 100% and essentially 0%. “There will be a crime wave. Gangs and criminals will fill the void with cigar houses next to tin houses.”
