Monday, April 19, 2021
Eternal ban on buying tobacco
New Zealand plans smoke-free generation
Smoke-free by 2025 – New Zealand has set itself this ambitious goal and the government is apparently serious: It wants to ban an entire generation from smoking – regardless of age. One section of the population in particular is supposed to get away from the harmful smoldering stick in this way.
New Zealand wants to extend the ban on the sale of tobacco and cigarettes and is striving for an unusual path: The country has presented plans to ban the sale of children who are currently underage – even if they have reached the age of majority at some point. The government under Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern apparently expects the ban for an entire generation, regardless of age, to have a greater effect on a smoke-free society.
Measures such as the protection of minors, education and advertising bans have failed to actually make smoking a marginal phenomenon, which is why smoking in New Zealand is to be further restricted with a whole series of bans. In addition to the generation ban, the government is also considering significantly reducing the permitted nicotine content in tobacco products, severely limiting points of sale for tobacco, imposing a minimum price and banning filters, as the British newspaper does “Guardian” reported.
“Business as usual doesn’t get us anywhere”
A new approach is needed, said Deputy Health Minister Ayesha Verrall: “Business as usual does not get us anywhere.” The ban, coupled with the year of birth of the people, is intended to create the framework for a policy “that prevents the sale and supply of tobacco products for new age cohorts,” says a government document from which the British newspaper “Independent” quoted. Every year around 4,500 New Zealanders would die as a result of smoking, said the Minister of Health [Rauchfrei 2025] If the ban goes into effect on January 1, 2022, it would mean for all people born after January 1, 2004 that they could never legally buy cigarettes and tobacco in New Zealand.
The drastic move was welcomed by several health care organizations. “This proposal goes beyond just helping people quit smoking,” said Lucy Elwood, executive director of the Cancer Society, according to a statement. In it, the chairwoman of the New Zealand Cancer Society stated that four times more tobacco dealers are located in financially weaker regions than in the rest of the country. In addition, the smoking rate is highest in poorer population groups. “These apparent inequalities are why we must protect future generations from the harm of tobacco,” said Elwood. Tobacco is the “most harmful consumer product in history and must be phased out”.
Lots of Maori smokers
This particularly affects the Maori and other indigenous population groups: The proportion of smokers among the Maori is particularly high and cancer is one of the most common causes of death in this part of the New Zealand population. Shane Kawenata Bradbrook, who has been committed to smoke-free living in Maori communities for years, said in a statement that the government’s plans are leading to “the ultimate demise of tobacco products in this country.” “For too long the tobacco industry has been addicting our people and robbing them of their money.” El-Shadan Tautolo, Professor of Public Health at Auckland University of Technology, also spoke of a “turning point” in health policy.
But the government’s plans are not just met with approval. The right-wing ACT party argued in a press release that lower nicotine levels in cigarettes could encourage people to smoke more than before. Critics also fear that the ban on tobacco products could harm small business owners and fuel the black market. The government is also observing the latter development, as the document states: “There are indications that the volume of tobacco products smuggled into New Zealand has increased significantly in recent years and that organized criminal groups are involved in large-scale smuggling,” it said.
A blanket ban for an entire generation also raises the question of the extent to which the government should intervene in people’s lives. “There is a philosophical principle that adults are able to make decisions for themselves within the framework of reason,” as New Zealand journalist Alex Braae in one Analysis for “The Spinoff” cited.
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