About half a dozen countries around the world are exploring ways to discourage cigarette smoking among younger generations. What was once considered a far-off idea has now become an accessible reality as more governments choose to take cigarette smoking very seriously.
Out of those countries, New Zealand is the first in the world to implement an annually rising cigarette smoking age, making it illegal for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to purchase tobacco.
As the new legislation comes into effect, New Zealand has already made good progress on dramatically reducing the number of people smoking cigarettes to 8% of the population – down from 9.4% in 2021.
Despite the low numbers, cigarette smoking is still the country’s leading cause of preventable death and ailments like cancer and heart disease, which claim approximately 5,000 lives every year.
The government of New Zealand believes that switching to smoke-free alternatives can significantly reduce the number of people addicted to cigarette smoking, due to the lower levels of nicotine.
While it’s true that nicotine is the cigarette component that is responsible for addiction, it’s not what causes harm. The real danger comes from the combustion of tobacco.
The anti-cigarette legislation has been designed by the New Zealand government to eventually reduce nicotine levels to non-addictive levels, making communities free of cigarette smoke and its consequences.
It does not ban vape products, which are already quite popular among younger consumers than cigarettes. In fact, there was an even greater rise in daily vape users than the drop in daily cigarette smokers: data suggests that 8.3% of adults vape daily, compared to 6.2% in 2021.
