New Zealand has passed one of the strictest anti-smoking laws in the world, which bans future generations of kiwis from purchasing tobacco ever in their lives.
The law, which was passed on Tuesday, means that tobacco cannot ever be sold to someone born on or after January 1st 2009.
The result of this is that the minimum legal age for buying cigarettes will continue to increase each year. This would mean that, in 50 years time, a person would have to prove that they were 63-years-old or older to purchase cigarettes legally.
Anyone caught selling alcohol to a person under the legal age will be fined up to NZ$150,000, or around €91,200.
The same law also reduces the number of retailers in New Zealand that are allowed to sell tobacco from roughly 6,000 to only 600, and reduces the maximum amount of nicotine allowed in tobacco that’s smoked.
New Zealand health authorities have outlined a stated goal of phasing out smoking entirely by 2025.
“There is no good reason to allow a product to be sold that kills half the people that use it,” said New Zealand’s Associate Minister of Health, Dr. Ayesha Verrall on the law. She also added that the law would save the state money from not having to treat smoking-related illnesses.
“This legislation accelerates progress towards a smokefree future.”
While the bill passed in parliament by 76 to 43, New Zealand’s libertarian ACT party, which holds 10 seats out of 120, opposed the move.
“We stand opposed to this bill because it’s a bad bill and it’s bad policy, it’s that straightforward and simple,” said Brooke van Velden, the party’s deputy leader, adding that the move was a “nanny-state prohibition” that would lead to a significant black market.
“No one wants to see people smoke, but the reality is, some will. And Labour’s nanny state prohibition is going to cause problems.”
Van Velden also added that the move would cause small shops and newsagents to go out of business due to the lost revenue from cigarettes.
New Zealand already has one of the lowest smoking rates of any country in the OECD, with the number of adult smokers dropping dramatically over the last decade.