Tasmania ‘war on fags’
23 December 2015 by News Desk
Officials in Tasmania, Australia, have declared war on smoking with plans to significantly raise the legal age for buying cigarettes.
In future, smokers will have to be 21 years old to buy cigarettes – and if officials have their way it could be as high as 25 years.
The move would give Tasmania some of the toughest tobacco laws in the world. The current legal age to buy, possess or smoke cigarettes in all Australian states is 18 years.
Australia already has tough anti-smoking laws. Cigarettes are sold in plain packaging, with no branding and packs coloured brown and covered in graphic health warnings.
Australia’s ‘war on fags’ also includes pricing, with a pack of cigarettes costing around A$20 a pack.
Official figures show around 25% of people in Tasmania smoke with most people starting before the age of 25.
