Youth purchasing cigarettes is prohibited in New Zealand for all time

On December 13, New Zealand passed legislation enacting a novel strategy to phase out tobacco use by prohibiting young people from ever purchasing cigarettes.

Tobacco must ever be sold to anyone who was born on or after January 1, 2009, according to the legislation.

It implies that the legal smoking age will continue to rise. Theoretically, someone wanting to purchase a pack of smokes in 50 years would require identification proving they were at least 63 years old.

But health officials are hopeful that smoking will become less popular much sooner. By the year 2025, they intend to make New Zealand smoke-free.