What is the true significance of New Zealand’s generational tobacco ban?

New Zealand’s ban on cigarette sales to people born after 1st January 2009 may look like a dry run for complete prohibition. But there’s a crucial difference, really: the law (which doesn’t apply to e-cigarettes or heated tobacco, though pouches are already illegal) will still allow for combustibles to be legally available to older people.

As a result, it will be a test not so much of prohibition itself as of the authorities’ effectiveness in controlling what could be an exceptionally ubiquitous black market – and of the interest that the generation about to turn 14 actually has in smoking.

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Barnaby Page

Editorial director
Before joining ECigIntelligence in early 2014 as one of its first employees, Barnaby had a 30-year career as a reporter and editor for newspapers, magazines and online services, working in Canada, the US and the Middle East as well as his current British location. He has edited publications covering fields including technology and the advertising industry, and was launch editor of the first large daily online news service in the British regional media. Barnaby also writes on classical music and film for a number of publications. Barnaby manages the editorial and reporting teams and works closely with the analyst teams, to ensure that all content meets high standards of quality and relevance. He also writes for the site occasionally, mostly on science-related issues, and is a member of the Association of British Science Writers.