• New Zealand passed 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 Jan 1, 2009.

• It means the minimum age for buying cigarettes will keep going up and up. 

• Violations of the new law are punishable by fines of up to NZ$150,000 (about $96,000). 

• The ban will remain in place for a person’s whole life.

• The new law also reduces the number of retailers allowed to sell tobacco from about 6,000 to 600 and decreases the amount of nicotine allowed in tobacco that is smoked.

• Only Bhutan, which banned cigarette sales in 2010, will have stricter anti-smoking laws. 

Action plan to create a smoke-free generation

• Already boasting one of the lowest adult smoking rates among the 38 countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), New Zealand is further tightening anti-smoking laws as part of a government push to make the country smoke-free by 2025.

• Smoking causes between 4,500 – 5,000 deaths in New Zealand each year. Over 2,000 of these are due to cancer, of which over 1,200 are lung cancer deaths.

• Māori, Pacific peoples and those living in New Zealand’s most deprived areas have higher smoking rates than other groups of New Zealanders. 

• Lung cancer is the leading cause of death for Māori women. The death rate from lung cancer for Māori women is four times higher than that of non-Māori women of the same age. People with disabilities have higher smoking rates than the general population, as do those with mental health needs and people who are in prison.

• In 2018, Cabinet agreed to develop the action plan to outline a pathway to New Zealand’s goal of being smokefree by 2025. 

• For the purposes of the action plan, being smokefree meant that daily smoking prevalence is less than 5 per cent for all population groups in New Zealand. 

• Statistics New Zealand reported last month that 8 per cent of New Zealand adults smoked daily, down from 16 per cent ten years ago. Meanwhile, 8.3 per cent of adults vaped daily, up from less than 1 per cent six years ago.

• New Zealand already restricts cigarette sales to those aged 18 and over, requires tobacco packs to come with graphic health warnings and cigarettes to be sold in standardised packs.

• New Zealand in recent years also imposed a series of hefty tax hikes on cigarettes.

• Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall said the health system would save billions of dollars from not needing to treat illnesses caused by smoking, such as cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and amputations. She said the Bill would create generational change and leave a legacy of better health for youth.

• The law change was welcomed by several health agencies.

• Lawmakers voted along party lines in passing the legislation 76 to 43.

• ACT New Zealand, which holds ten out 120 seats in Parliament, condemned the law.

• The party said many small corner stores would go out of business because they would no longer be able to sell cigarettes and force people onto the black market.

• The law does not affect vaping, which has already become more popular than smoking in New Zealand.

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