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One nation with a daring plan for a smoke-free future is New Zealand. By 2025, the government wants to lower the percentage of people who smoke to less than 5% of the population. To that end, a number of initiatives have been put in place. Among them are:
yearly increase in the legal smoking age, making it impossible for anyone born after January 1, 2009, to obtain tobacco products legally.
cutting tobacco products' nicotine content to extremely low levels in order to lessen their addictive and gratifying qualities.
limiting the availability and accessibility of tobacco products by limiting their sale to authorized specialty retailers only.
Increasing the resources allocated to programs and services aimed at helping people quit smoking, particularly in Māori and Pacific communities where smoking rates are higher,
encouraging the use of vaping products while controlling their marketing and quality as a less dangerous substitute for smoking.
These policies are based on data showing that New Zealand's top preventable cause of disease and death, accounting for 4,500 annual deaths, is tobacco use. Māori and Pacific Islanders are disproportionately affected by smoking because they have greater rates of heart disease, lung cancer, and other tobacco-related illnesses. Furthermore, smoking has a cultural cost for Māori because it prevents them from passing on to future generations their customs, histories, and knowledge.
New Zealand is not the only country attempting to ban smoke. Similar objectives and approaches to lower smoking have also been adopted by a number of other nations, including Finland, Ireland, and Canada. But in order to stop young people from ever starting to smoke, New Zealand is the first nation in the world to introduce an annual rising smoking age1. Public health professionals and advocates have hailed this law, viewing it as a revolutionary step in the fight against tobacco.
The goal of having no smoke in New Zealand is challenging but doable. It has broad public support, a solid evidence base, and a strong political commitment. It is also motivated by the idea of a more equal, happier, and healthier society free from the negative effects of tobacco use. By 2025, New Zealand aims to be a smoke-free country, setting an example for the rest of the world to imitate.
