NZ bans tomorrow’s smokers from ever buying ciggies. But what about vapes?

New Zealand is set to introduce revolutionary anti-tobacco legislation barring certain generations from ever being legally able to buy tobacco. It’s a unique proposition — outlawing those aged 14 and under when the law comes into effect from purchasing a product their parents can.

The legislation raises interesting questions about civil liberties, and a debate around introducing a rule affecting an ever-shrinking demographic — young smokers — while the use of smoke-free nicotine products such as vapes is rising.

The Smokefree 2025 plan aims to reduce smoking-related deaths, particularly in ​​Māori, Pacific and low-income communities. The number of Māori New Zealanders who smoke is 31%, compared to 13% of the rest of the population, and their life expectancy is eight years less.

Tobacco control and human rights are rarely discussed together, although it presents an interesting debate: does tobacco control support the right to life and health, or diminish the rights to rights to self-determination and non-discrimination?

Coercive? Excessive state intervention?

While public health organisations argue there is no constitutional right to smoke and the World Health Organization argues for “evidence-based” policies that “reaffirm the right of all people to the highest standard of health”, others argue tobacco control restrictions are “paternalistic”, a form of “coercion“, and consist of “excessive state intervention”.

This is one of the first times in the world a product has been phased out based on birthdate, adjunct professor at Curtin University National Drug Research Institute Dr Nicole Lee tells Crikey, although the restrictions have been debated in Singapore, Tasmania and parts of the UK.

A key determinant, Lee says, was the fact it wouldn’t affect existing users but would stop new ones.

“Ninety per cent of people who smoke cigarettes are dependent on it, whereas a very small percentage of people who use other drugs are dependent on it,” she said. 

She says the legislation was unlikely to be applied to other drugs such as alcohol or even cannabis in countries where it has been legalised. 

“There’s a strong public health push to ban tobacco because the vast majority of people who use cigarettes have problems with them, whereas other drugs people are able to use it in moderation,” she said.

Are kids even smoking?

A key criticism of the legislation is that it focuses on tobacco rather than smokeless products, like vapes.

Recent New Zealand research has shown that 38% of students aged 13-18 had vaped and one in 10 vaped regularly, compared with 15% who had ever smoked or the 4% who smoked regularly. While smoking is more common among students in low-socioeconomic areas, vaping was tried in schools in every region. Of those who had vaped, 81% had never smoked. 

New Zealand has had a more relaxed approach to vaping than Australia. It excluded vaping products from normal tobacco control legislation in 2018 and allows adults to purchase nicotine e-liquid from retail stores. There are plans to reduce the number of outlets that can sell vaping products and introduce limits on nicotine strength. 

This year Australia introduced stricter policies, barring anyone from buying or importing liquid nicotine without a doctor’s prescription showing they were using vapes to quit smoking. In Australia, smoking is the estimated cause of 13% of all deaths. One in 10 adults smoke, compared with 15% in 2014-15.

Lee is concerned Australia’s laws do more harm than good; some studies suggest vaping is much safer than smoking, although the products are too new to know if they are linked to cancer. 

“The stuff in cigarettes that gives you cancer and lung disease is a concern,” she said. “From a public health perspective, vaping is much safer than smoking so it makes sense to try and reduce the amount of smoking even if we don’t try and reduce the level of vaping.” 

What extra policies can we expect? 

Australia’s nicotine prescription laws are a world first, and some of the first action it has taken against big tobacco since the plain packaging laws were introduced in 2012, Sydney University public health expert Professor emeritus Simon Chapman says.

A key concern for public health experts is whether vaping is a gateway to smoking for young people, getting them hooked on nicotine early. 

But he’s not sure the prescription legislation has been effective, largely because the Health Department has been focused on COVID-19 instead of cracking down on the vape black market. 

“I think other countries will follow Australia’s prescription model because the black market is a much less effective mechanism,” he said.

“I suspect if Labor wins the election, Australia would likely see an end to the personal importation scheme with nicotine vaping products to stop the supply.”