In 2022, under the leadership of leftist Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand passed the most sweeping ban on tobacco products ever seen. They planned to “phase out” smoking by forbidding anyone born after January 1, 2009, from purchasing tobacco products permanently. But now, Christopher Luxon has been sworn in to replace her. He was previously the head of the opposition party and his agenda is considerably different. One of the first things he did was to announce that the smoking ban was going to be repealed. Now, liberal activists are up in arms, but Luxon insists that the ban would have done even more damage to the economy than the previous government had inflicted. (NBC News)
Health and tobacco campaigners said Monday that New Zealand’s plan to repeal laws that would ban tobacco sales for future generations threatened lives and put international efforts to curb smoking at risk.
The country’s new center-right coalition will scrap the laws introduced by the previous Labour-led government, according to coalition agreements published on Friday.
The package of measures would have seen bans on selling tobacco to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009, reduced the…
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