New Zealand Wants “Smokefree Generations”, Lifetime Cigarette Sale Ban Coming Soon for Kiwis

• New Zealand has announced their plan to implement a lifetime cigarette ban for young people starting from 2027
• The proposed law has been named the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan and will be presented to parliament next year
• The action plan will be applicable to anyone who is 14 years old in the year that the law comes into effect

WELLINGTON - New Zealand's government announced today (9 December) that they want to legally prevent young people from purchasing cigarettes to ensure that they do not smoke in their lifetime.

This proposal follows several government initiatives to dissuade New Zealanders from smoking. If the proposed law is passed, it will be one of the harshest clampdowns on the tobacco industry anywhere in the world.

New Zealand plans to implement this law by 2027. People who will then be 14 years old will never be allowed to legally purchase cigarettes in the country, SABC News reports.

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Details of the proposed law

The New Zealand government have named the new law the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan. The action plan will be presented to parliament in June 2022, with the hope of making it a law shortly after.

News24 reports that the ban will last for the person's whole life. The New Zealand government have said that they hope this plan will phase out cigarette sales in the country altogether and could prevent an estimated 5000 deaths annually.

Starting in 2025 the New Zealand government will regulate the level of nicotine in cigarettes sold so that people can get weaned off of the addictive substance.

Reactions to the proposed cigarette ban

@Its_AfroDeity said:

"There are healthier ways to reduce stress. If it isn't pushed as a stress reducer, it wouldn't be tried as one in the first place and you can't have an addiction if you don't start."

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@UbqFinance believes:

"Tyranny. Government interfering too much on private life."

@SatsJoseph shared:

"More like “black market generation”."

@TChivese remarked:

"This is very progressive."

@Sir_Fin said:

"The world needs to ban cigarettes entirely."

New Zealand looks to cut out smoking by imposing lifetime ban on cigarette sales

Earlier Briefly News reported that New Zealand is contemplating a groundbreaking move to do away with the ills of smoking among its citizens as of Thursday.

The Oceania country's government announced that it wants to impose a ban to keep the population of young people in the country from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetime.

New Zealand's crackdown is one of the world's toughest on the tobacco industry, presenting the argument that other efforts to do away with the dreaded lifestyle undertaking were not materialising quickly enough.

Source: Briefly News