New Zealand imposes lifetime ban on youth buying cigarettes

By NICK PERRY
Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand has passed into law a unique plan to phase out tobacco smoking by imposing a lifetime ban on young people buying cigarettes. The law states that tobacco can’t ever be sold to anybody born on or after Jan. 1, 2009.  It means the minimum age for buying cigarettes will keep going up and up. In theory, somebody trying to buy a pack of cigarettes 50 years from now would need ID to show they were at least 63 years old. Opponents said the law amounts to prohibition and would create unintended consequences, such as putting corner stores out of business and creating a black market for cigarettes.