The New Zealand Parliament passed, on Tuesday, a set of laws that are the “toughest” in the world on preventing smoking, as New Zealand decided to ban future generations from buying tobacco and cigarettes for life.
These laws include a ban on the sale of tobacco to anyone born January 1, 2009 onwards, with a penalty of up to 150,000 New Zealand dollars (95,910 US dollars), according to the Associated Press.
According to the laws, the ban will remain in effect on these new generations throughout their lives, meaning that they are prohibited from drinking cigarettes from youth until death.
In this context, the new laws provided for reducing the amount of nicotine allowed in cigarettes at the present time, and reducing the number of retailers who can sell tobacco by 90 percent.
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It was decided to reduce the number of retailers licensed to sell tobacco and cigarettes to 600 by the end of 2023, down from 6,000 merchants.
New Zealand unveiled its anti-smoking plan in December 2021.
It is noteworthy that the current percentage of smokers in New Zealand is 13 percent, the majority of whom are indigenous (Mauru), according to media reports.
