Perhaps everybody knows by now that smoking is bad for your health. Despite this fact, hundreds of thousands of people die every year only in the US because of smoking cigarettes, according to the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
New Zealand has become one of the countries attempting to phase out smoking. As a result, a new law expected to be enacted in 2022 will forbid those who are born after 2008 to buy cigarettes or tobacco products, according to the BBC. The first goal is to reduce the national smoking rate to just 5% by 2025.
A wise move or not?
As expected, not everyone is pleased about the upcoming law from New Zealand, as it probably happens in the case of any other possible law in the world. The country’s Health Minister Dr. Ayesha Verall says that the goal is to make sure that young people will never start smoking. The health ministry from New Zealand reminds people that smoking is the cause of one in four cancers. Furthermore, consuming cigarettes is the leading cause of preventable death.
Janet Hook, a professor from the University of Otago, declared as quoted by the BBC:
It will help people quit or switch to less harmful products, and make it much less likely that young people get addicted to nicotine.
Sunny Kaushal, who’s a chairman of the Dairy and Business Owners Group, seems to be very upset about the new law. He said for the Stuff news site of New Zealand the following, as quoted by the same source mentioned earlier:
This is all 100% theory and 0% substance,
There’s going to be a crime wave. Gangs and criminals will fill the gap.
The habit of smoking is not so prevalent in New Zealand compared to other countries. Only 13% of the adults living in the country are smokers.
