New Zealand imposes lifetime ban on youth buying cigarettes

New Zealand on Tuesday 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 continue rising. 

But health authorities hope smoking will fade away well before then - they have a stated goal of making New Zealand smoke-free by 2025.  The new law also reduces the number of retailers allowed to sell tobacco from about 6,000 to 600 and decreases the amount of nicotine allowed in tobacco that is smoked. Lawmakers voted along party lines in passing the legislation 76 to 43. The law does not affect vaping, which has already become more popular than smoking in New Zealand.