New government in New Zealand abolishes smoking ban

New Zealand was the first country in the world to aim to be smoke-free by 2025. About a year ago, the then New Zealand government and former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern passed a law intended to make smoking much more difficult for future generations. According to this law, tobacco may no longer be sold to people born in or after January 2009.

In addition, the legal nicotine content in tobacco products must be drastically reduced. And the number of licensed tobacco outlets should drop from 6,000 to 600 by the end of 2023.

With this decision, the former government sought to prevent thousands of smoking-related deaths and save the healthcare system billions of dollars. However, the law is now set to expire.

On Monday, November 27, 2023, the new Prime Minister of New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, took office. The leader of the conservative New Zealand National Party took his oath of office in the capital Wellington.

In his inaugural speech he emphasized that his most important task was ‘to put the economy in order’. Achieving this would require lowering the cost of living and bringing inflation under control “so we can lower interest rates and make food more affordable,” Luxon said.

The associated measures now include scrapping the plan for a smoke-free New Zealand. This is reported by the ‘Guardian’. New Finance Minister Nicola Willis stated that tobacco tax revenue would instead be used for tax relief.

The National Party actually wanted to finance tax cuts by allowing foreign buyers to regain access to the New Zealand property market. However, coalition partner New Zealand First voted against this proposal.

Luxon further justifies the abandoned project by saying the sales ban would create a black market for tobacco. This is now prevented. The fear that a black market for tobacco products could emerge was already expressed by critics at the time.

It is now also possible to prevent tobacco shops from becoming the target of crime. “Concentrating cigarette distribution in one store in a small town will be a huge magnet for crime,” Luxon told Radio New Zealand.

Although the smoking ban law is about to expire, Luxon and his government still want to try reduce the number of smokers through education and other policy measures.

The response from health experts has been overwhelmingly negative. Many are shocked by the government’s new plans, as ending the smoking ban will cost up to 5,000 lives every year. New Zealand’s indigenous people, Māori, are particularly affected because they smoke more often than the rest of the population.