New Zealand plans to ban young people from ever buying cigarettes in their lifetime in one of the world’s toughest crackdowns on the tobacco industry.
The country claims that other efforts to stop youngsters from smoking were taking too long.
Under the proposed new law, people aged 14 and under in 2025 will never be allowed to purchase cigarettes and would make New Zealand a smoke-free nation.
New Zealand Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall said in a statement. "We want to make sure young people never start smoking so we will make it an offense to sell or supply smoked tobacco products to new cohorts of youth."
"If nothing changes, it would be decades till Maori smoking rates fall below 5%, and this government is not prepared to leave people behind."
According to Reuters, currently, 11.6 percent of all New Zealanders aged over 15 smoke.
