Smoking in New Zealand
In New Zealand, smoking is legal but subject to tobacco control regulations. Cigarettes are regulated as tobacco products and can be sold through retail outlets, including online sales and vending machines. The importation of cigarettes for trade is allowed with a trade license. Health warnings on packaging are mandatory, the legal minimum age for purchase is 18 years, and smoking in public places is subject to legal restrictions. A comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising is also in place. Cigarettes in New Zealand are taxed at a total rate of 82.78%, including an excise component of 69.74%. Data show that in 2024, the number of current smokers was recorded to be approximately 364,000 in New Zealand, corresponding to an adult smoking prevalence of 8.6%. In the same year, current smoking prevalence was slightly higher among males (9.7%) than among females (7.7%). In 2022, this prevalence was recorded to be 11.4%. In 2023, the adult daily tobacco smoking prevalence was reported to be 7.7%, with approximately 362,845 daily smokers. In 2021, smoking led to approximately 3,580 deaths in New Zealand, including 2,085 deaths among males and 1,495 deaths among females. In other words, tobacco smoking accounted for 10.38% of all deaths in the country in 2021, including11.78% of all male deaths and 8.9% of all female deaths.
Read articles from New Zealand
August 14, 2023 by bbc.com
New Zealand's Youth Vaping Crisis Clouds Smoke-Free Future
New Zealand is on target to becoming smoke-free by 2025. This means being cigarette and tobacco free and that's where vaping comes in. For long-term adult smokers, it's seen as a less harmful alternative but the flipside to that is the exponential rise and accessibility of vaping to teenagers and at times younger children.
According to data released last year, the number of teenagers in New Zealand who vaped regularly had tripled between 2019 and 2021.
July 18, 2023 by colinmendelsohn.com.au
Leading health experts urge lawmakers to reform vaping laws
FORTY FIVE LEADING TOBACCO TREATMENT, public health and addiction experts from Australia and New Zealand are urging lawmakers to listen to the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ANACAD) ahead of Health Minister Mark Butler’s proposed vaping crackdown. In a letter sent to all state, territory and federal members of parliament today, Tuesday 18 July 2023, the experts fully endorsed the Council’s concerns about the proposed regulations
June 30, 2023 by tobaccoreporter.com
New Zealand Urged to Reject Australia’s Regulatory Model
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) is calling on the New Zealand government to reject Australia’s approach to vaping and continue to follow the science and evidence.
CAPHRA has submitted comments on New Zealand’s proposals for the smoked tobacco regulatory regime, which include tightening current restrictions on vaping product safety requirements and packaging and reducing nicotine levels in disposable vapes as well as restricting the location of specialist vape retailers.
June 26, 2023 by 1news.co.nz
Govt criticised over confusing process to change vape rules
Health officials are proposing to change vape rules to set a maximum limit of 28mg/mL on the amount of actual nicotine a vape can contain, but the way Manatū Hauora, the Ministry of Health is going about it has triggered a fightback campaign from vape sellers and raised alarm among some health advocates. Last week, Manatū Hauoura launched a low-key, two-week submission process with a link to a survey. After questions from Fair Go, it has updated its reasons today.
The Asthma & Respiratory Foundation says many stakeholders had no idea this was underway and that the proposal would create three different levels of nicotine for vapes, sowing yet more confusion.
June 12, 2023 by 1news.co.nz
Fears confirmed: New data shows vape stores target poorest areas
On the streets of Ōtāhuhu in South Auckland, you don’t have to look far for a nicotine fix.
Its small shopping centre is home to 8 vape stores – two of them are side by side.
It’s a pattern repeated all over the country. The higher the deprivation of an area, the more specialist vape retailers it has.
A Sunday investigation has found nearly 10 times as many e-cigarette outlets in our lowest income communities as there are in the most well-off.
Health researcher Lucy Hardie has been studying the vape industry’s marketing strategies.
May 23, 2023 by scoop.co.nz
Industry Body Takes Aggressive Stance To Combat Youth Vaping
Smokefree New Zealand is intrinsically linked to providing smokers with products containing the right nicotine levels to help them quit. The 2021 regulations imposed a nicotine strength cap of 50mg/ml nicotine strength, which has been vital in assisting smokers with readily accessible products in market that deliver a similar level of nicotine to cigarettes. We have had tremendous success with reduction in tobacco smoking rates due to the strength of vaping products readily available in market and according to Action for Smokefree 2023 (ASH), in the past six years vaping has contributed to the drop in the number of New Zealanders smoking daily from 14.5% to 8% for adults and 1% for young people.
February 02, 2023 by theconversation.com
Marketers are targeting teens with cheap and addictive vapes: 9 ways to stem rising rates of youth vaping
Existing regulations have not managed to reduce the rising rates of youth vaping in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Both the latest NZ Health Survey and Snapshot Y10 survey reported high levels of daily vaping among young people aged 18 to 24 (23%) and 14 to 15 (10% overall, but more than 20% among rangatahi Māori). Other studies and reports from school principals confirm we need urgent action to address youth vaping.
But what measures should policymakers implement? To answer this question, we need to consider how vape marketing makes these products widely available, appealing, addictive and affordable.
January 11, 2023 by spiked-online.com
The road to prohibition
Last month, the New Zealand parliament passed a law that will prohibit anyone born after 2008 from ever buying cigarettes. Nothing spreads so quickly in politics as an illiberal ‘public health’ policy, and so it was no surprise to hear Wes Streeting, UK shadow health secretary, announcing over the weekend that he is keen to copy the Kiwis. If elected, Labour will launch a public consultation on incremental prohibition.
In an interview with The Times last week, Streeting said that he ‘hated the smell of cigarette smoke growing up’. He also wants to clamp down on e-cigarettes, because he is ‘sick and tired of seeing young people congregating outside vaping shops’. [...]
January 05, 2023 by scoop.co.nz
Proposals Must Not Hit Smokers Desperate To Quit
“Kiwis need to have their say on the Government’s proposed measures aimed at youth vaping, with submissions closing on 15 March,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates).
Her comments follow Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall launching a consultation document titled ‘Proposals for the Smoked Tobacco Regulatory Regime’.
As well as crunching combustible tobacco, proposals include tightening current restrictions on vaping product safety requirements and packaging. It also considers some restrictions on the location of Specialist Vape Retailers (SVRs) as well as reducing nicotine levels in disposable vapes.
December 19, 2022 by planetofthevapes.co.uk
NZ Minister Standing Firm
Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall has done well not to get side-tracked by constant and unrelated attacks on vaping by MPs debating the smokefree amendment bill in Parliament, according to Kiwi Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) advocates.