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. …Watch this result in an increase in “young people” smoking. Just driving things underground.
Most young people just vape instead, and I don’t think this law says anything about that. Not that they could stop it anyway, since you can just order all the vaping materials you want via the internet.
Covid led to the first increase in cigarette smoking rates since the mid 1960s.