New Zealand abandons world’s first ‘generational smoking ban’

The legislation as proposed would have banned the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008, and was approved by New Zealand's previous government last year.

New Zealand has scrapped legislation that would have prevented a generation of young people from legally purchasing cigarettes.

On Monday, after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was newly sworn into office, the conservative leader confirmed his government would repeal the strict tobacco restrictions before they came into effect.

The legislation would have banned the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008. The legislation was the first of its kind and would have seen the minimum age to buy cigarettes go up. At the time, the decision was praised by international health officials — ones who may now find the reversal a bit of a drag.

Luxon said on Monday his main goals as prime minister are to improve the economy and curb inflation.

He said smoking rates in New Zealand have been declining for the last 30 years. Luxon argued that by banning cigarettes for young people, an untaxed “black market” was likely to emerge. He said tax revenue from the sale of cigarettes was “not the motivation” for backtracking on the ban.

Luxon clarified that the new government will also forego laws that intended to reduce the amount of nicotine allowed in tobacco products to “non-addictive levels.” The legislation would have additionally slashed the number of stores legally able to sell cigarettes from 6,000 to 600 nationwide.

The ban was expected to prevent smoking-related deaths and could have saved up to 5,000 lives each year.

Prior to being elected, Luxon did not mention reversing the smoking ban.