New Zealand’s unique plan to ban cigarettes was passed into law on Tuesday. It effectively bans anyone born in 2009 or later from buying cigarettes — for their entire lifetimes.
The proposal from the country's health officials is headlined by a ban that raises the minimum age to buy cigarettes every year beginning in 2023. It would effectively be a permanent ban on cigarettes for those aged 14 or younger.Editor's note: A version of this story was originally published in December 2021.
Officials have said their goal is to decrease the number of New Zealanders who smoke cigarettes to just 5% of the population by 2025. Currently, 11% of the adult population smokes. In New Zealand, cigarettes are taxed so heavily that a pack costs roughly 20 U.S. dollars. A black market already exists to circumvent those high prices, and some critics of the proposal worry the ban will exacerbate that.
Data collected from New Zealand could help inform other governments considering similar options, said Fong, who leads the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, a worldwide effort to track the effects of tobacco policies.
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