New Zealand to ban cigarettes for future generations

[6Foot2]

Link: New Zealand to ban cigarettes for future generations - BBC News

 

New Zealand will ban the sale of tobacco to its next generation, in a bid to eventually phase out smoking.

 

Anyone born after 2008 will not be able to buy cigarettes or tobacco products in their lifetime, under a law expected to be enacted next year.

 

"We want to make sure young people never start smoking," Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verall said.

 

The move is part of a sweeping crackdown on smoking announced by New Zealand's health ministry on Thursday.

 

Doctors and other health experts in the country have welcomed the "world-leading" reforms, which will reduce access to tobacco and restrict nicotine levels in cigarettes.

 

"It will help people quit or switch to less harmful products, and make it much less likely that young people get addicted to nicotine," said Prof Janet Hook from the University of Otago.

 

However, others have warned that the move may create a black market for tobacco - something the health ministry's official impact statement does acknowledge, noting "customs will need more resource to enforce border control".

 

New Zealand is determined to achieve a national goal of reducing its national smoking rate to 5% by 2025, with the aim of eventually eliminating it altogether.

 

At the moment, 13% of New Zealand's adults smoke, with the rate much higher among the indigenous Maori population, where it soars to almost a third. Maori also suffer a higher rate of disease and death.

 

New Zealand's health ministry says smoking causes one in four cancers and remains the leading cause of preventable death for its five million strong population. The industry has been the target of legislators for more than a decade now.

 

As part of the crackdown announced on Thursday, the government also introduced major tobacco controls, including significantly restricting where cigarettes can be sold to remove them from supermarkets and corner stores.

 

The number of shops authorised to sell cigarettes will be drastically reduced to under 500 from about 8,000 now, officials say.

 

In recent years, vaping - smoking e-cigarettes which produce a vapour that also delivers nicotine - has become far more popular among younger generations than cigarettes.

 

New Zealand health authorities warn however, that vaping is not harmless. Researchers have found hazardous, cancer-causing agents in e-cigarette liquids as well.

 

But in 2017 the country adopted vaping as a pathway to help smokers quit tobacco.

[network41]

Well I have stupidly smoked for many many years , I think this is a brilliantly simple idea , well done NZ

[6Foot2]

Well I have stupidly smoked for many many years , I think this is a brilliantly simple idea , well done NZ

I also smoked for a long time. I stopped smoking (and for the most part drinking [alcohol]) when I realized just how much it was costing me.

 

Stopping is possible. You have to want to, and you need a good reason that works for you.

[jthompson]

Is smoking still seen as being cool and rebellious by young people? As an uncool square, I've no idea. Vaping certainly doesn't look cool, I know that much.

[synaesthesia]

Seems to be. I am befuddled as to how anyone can think it looks or is "cool" - it's just killing yourself, slowly.

[6Foot2]

Seems to be. I am befuddled as to how anyone can think it looks or is "cool" - it's just killing yourself, slowly.

 

It wasn't "cool" for me. There were other factors at play, far too complicated and depressing to go into here. In short: I wasn't happy (but there's LOTS more behind that)

[3s-gtech]

I think some of them think it's cool, but it's slipped into a 'cool, if you're scuzzy (like the sort of uni students that barely wash)' subculture. Problem is that they can only buy the hookey, knockoff stuff which is magically duty free from import shops, so who knows what's in it. They stink worse than ever, anyway.