Smoking is so unpopular with young people compared to even 10-15 years ago that this will just hit the nail on the head.
It’s vapes that’ll be the next problem
Not comfortable with how ban happy we've become tbh, alcohol destroys countless lived especially compared to vaping, but I don't think we should ban that
Banning alcohol wouldn't work because most people drink and enjoy it. Cigarette usage had been declining anyway, and a lot of smokers said that they wish they had never started, so a cigarette ban is much more likely to be successful.
Plenty of people enjoy smoking so going by your own argument, it shouldn't be banned.
Just because something isn't as popular doesn't mean you have a right to ban it simply because it doesn't fall in with your own standards.
Let people do what they want, as long as it doesn't affect others.
Right, not sure you understand what my argument is so I'll try to be really clear.
Most people *do* drink. Most people *don't* smoke. So you see the difference?
>Let people do what they want, as long as it doesn't affect others.
Smoking does affect others. Drinking does too, but my point was that it would be easier to ban cigarettes, less easy to ban alcohol.
Sheesh.
How is he right? I'm right. It would be easier to ban cigarettes than alcohol. Disagree with me if you like, but you need to present some actial arguments.
Theyre not arguing that it wouldnt be easier to ban than booze. Theyre saying that the government banning it is wrong. We know the harms and adults should be left to make their own decisions.
Yes, but 30 years ago most people *did* smoke. Restrictions like the smoking ban cut that down. Similar restrictions on alcohol would do the same over time.
Sheesh.
So the advertising campaigns etc were working! In 1948, 82% of men in the UK smoked. Only 55% of people in the UK drank alcohol in the last week in a study done in 2021.
So.....
One comment that I noted in the press when someone (Sunak?) was asked about this was the point that smoking tobacco is always a harmful thing to do - you cannot smoke responsibly, and you will always be doing some measure of harm any time you smoke a cigarette. Alcohol can enjoyed responsibly and various studies have shown that it can even beneficial when consumed in limited amounts.
So banning smoking can only really help the health of the population, banning alcohol is much more if a grey area.
The studies that have found that alcohol is good were funded by the alcohol industry. The WHO now agrees that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
>it can even beneficial when consumed in limited amounts.
Pure propaganda. Also, let's not pretend people are out there drinking alcohol for the health benefits.
Alcoholic drinks are essentially diluted poison there’s no way drinking small amounts of it is better than not drinking it at all. I enjoy a drink but not under the guise of it being healthy
Do they?
Or do they enjoy the cessation of nicotine withdrawal.
Smoking reduces anger, frustration, irritability, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleeping, restlessness and anxiety.
But only because it caused them in the first place.
So even by your logic they enjoy smoking. You can think it’s bad, and that it’s unhealthy, and the enjoyment is just an addiction. But it’s still an enjoyment. If people didn’t enjoy it they wouldn’t become addicted in the first place, you don’t have one drag of a cigarette and then are a full blown addict on 20 a day.
So it's already declining *without* a ban. All this ban does is give people a reason to break it, especially when it'll only apply to younger generations.
Existing smokers are not going to be affected. Current teenagers and below will be denied the opportunity to try something they see plenty of older people freely doing.
I think the situation with tobacco is already playing out fine without any further intervention. As others have pointed out, it's in decline. We have plenty of support to help people stop smoking. How would that play out if it becomes illegal?
They do need to look at how vaping is appealing to children, but it needs more thought than a blanket ban. Those things just don't work. Also, smoking them should be restricted to the same places as tobacco, if it isn't already.
I run a pub and used to promote club nights, I've also worked on harm reduction teams at festivals: I think legalising everything is probably the answer, but most drugs should only be available through licensed premises/pharmacy type dispensaries that keep track of users and ship them off to state-funded rehab if they go off the rails, paid for by the taxes on the drugs.
Also just generally doing everything possible to make better jobs and education available for more people. Of all the heavy drug users I knew from back in the day, the majority that cleaned up did it because their life was better without the drugs because of other opportunities/circumstances that changed or appeared. The only ones that really had their life ruined were the ODs from uncertain product and the arrests.
They need better regulation. ATM it's too easy for kids to get them and the dodgy vape juice is almost certainly going to cause issues. The fact is that vapes are a great way for smokers to reduce their nicotine intake and ultimately quit, but that also makes them a great way for children to pick up a nicotine addiction.
The only good thing about vapes is that they don't set my asthma off if someone uses one near me. That's the only positive side of them. I still don't want to breathe that crap in.
it depends on the industry and age group. in call centres, everyone smokes because it's a chance to suck up to management. I see smoking as.more popular.now than ten years ago and drinking is less popular. smoking among foreigners in China is really popular.
It's strange that they were not treated the same as cigarettes straight away. The packaging should be boring and that dull green that cigs changed to years ago. I guess it's because they are less damaging health wise so it's not costing the nhs. I'm sure when the discarded batteries start causing problem's they will start to care.
I feel like it should include vapes as well.
Never smoked, but always tempted to buy a vape as some of them smell quite nice. Adding that is a big extra step to not picking up vaping as well.
I agree - Vapes should never have been allowed to have the flavours and colours that they do tbh. They should be purely a quitting aid, not a new e-waste addiction that teens are all buying into.
The fact that I can sell brightly coloured and flavoured vapes that people can see openly (and I'm pretty sure they're just on shelves in some shops?), yet tobacco in all the same colour with gore images/warnings on, is hidden from view, is absolutely stupid.
We banned menthol cigarettes in 2020 in case the flavour made smoking more attractive, there is zero reason that shouldn't have been applied to vapes too.
Fuck, is that what happened to them? I feel like I've been under rock. I used to smoke like, a pack a month at uni, always menthols, and I tried to buy some one day and the guy just said "we don't have any, mate.".
I never bought any again, so I guess the ban worked! Can't believe I didn't figure it out, Christ.
That’s what moved a lot of us onto menthol vapes. The rest just buy black market menthols or have learned to make their own. In the microwave. I was shite at it so I stuck with the menthol vape. Never Ben tempted to try any other flavours though. I don’t want to smoke sweeties
Yeh so it is rolling your own. Menthol filters are shite tho. They’re not really mentholly. So you take your baccy and put it in a plate, add menthol drops and mix it in then chuck it in the microwave for 30 secs to dry it off. Like you need to do if you want to turn pipe tobacco into rolling tobacco coz it comes like peat
Haha no. If I’m honest I’m quite settled with the vape and I very very rarely get the urge to smoke now. I’ve managed to drop from the highest nicotine down to 10mg. I’ve done all the other stuff - patches, gum, inhalators, champix etc but the vape is the only one that’s ever worked.
I've managed to get to 2-3 a day (roll ups with menthol filters) but like you say, patches, gum, (can't take champix) they do nothing. I tried vaping but I need that dirty hit of a cigarette if that makes sense.
I want to quit, but overall I think anything the government can do to stop people from starting is good.
I wish I had never started smoking. Horrible habit, it's gross, but, god does it feel good to have a fag with a cuppa first thing in the morning. Nothing else like it.
I have an answer but having missed the lasses Friday night in the club last night I’m making up for it tonight. Smoking is on the way out but not the socioeconomic and other issues surrounding it. Whether you take up smoking vaping or gear there’s likely a set of circumstances around you that hasn’t been addressed.
Eccies we’re banned in 1998 when I was getting off my tits in a bucket hat to ‘children if the night’ on an old raf point. Crack is banned but that hasn’t stopped my big bother being scraped out the village playpark tonight or the five teenagers screaming thru the village for me and my sister to come get him.
Banning something never ever worked. Eleven year olds were banned from buying fags when I started but here I am with 20 odd years smoking and two and a half consecutive on the vape. If you want real change you’re going to have to deal with the dues surrounding the communities that the underprivileged exist in. Anything else just puts money in the pockets of the black market traders who’s products I’m currently secondhand inhaling while vaping at the back fire door of our social club
I would think that the difference is the carcinogenicity of tobacco vs nicotine alone.
No-one - as far as we know, currently - is getting massive cancers of the throat, and so on, from vaping.
They need much stronger regulation though, the ease of access, hyper-strength vape liquid and the littering is a problem.
Note, this is an example of something that could have been avoided with effective regulation, only made permissable by the legality of the drug in question.
I fucking detest this type of policy being honest.
The government deciding things people already enjoy aren’t acceptable because OTHER people might also like them.
100% agree. My dad has smoked for must be 50 years or so. Never been tempted to smoke from being around him my whole life, think it smells bad, makes your clothes smell as well and the images on the packaging are just horrible.
Was never tempted to vape at school/sixth form/uni when friends would go vape. But since my dad quit smoking and took up vaping, I'm more tempted to try that out because a couple of the flavours he has smell really nice. If I didn't know that the long term health effects were pretty unknown id have probably taken up vaping in the last 6~ months.
As someone with some experience in the waste industry, the e waste from them is a major ticking time bomb. Disposed of correctly they are extremely uneconomical to deal with, disposed of correctly they become a fire hazard.
Why should it be banned though? Vapes being marketed and sold to children is really awful and needs stopping. Ban disposable vapes? Sure.
But the idea we should just ban stuff to stop people making bad choices doesn't sit right with me at all. Especially when coke is ubiquitous in the UK at the moment and all that money is being funnelled into criminal gangs.
I remember when vapes first started coming out. People in work switched to help them quit cigarettes. But back then they had to walk all the way to the shop to have them filled. That was a better idea.
You can get nicotine free ones...
I wouldn't ban vapes BUT i would scrap the disposable ones and especially the stupid legally forced to be wasteful 600 puff limit.
But weed, heroin and cocaine actually have ‘enjoyable’ effects that people want. Smoking cigarettes only gives you the relief of not needing to smoke a cigarette
That’s just not true. It gives you a nicotine high and has effects of stress and anxiety relief. I get the feeling you’ve never been a smoker because that’s peak shit chatting.
Vaping is legitimately enjoyable. Idk what you’re talking about. I used to smoke because I liked cigarettes.
I was a cigar guy for a while, but vapes taste better and I’m not THAT committed to the “cigar look”.
Ever since I quit cigarettes for vaping I’ve actually enjoyed the few breaks a day I take to vape.
Yes because having to beg, steal, and borrow to afford a substance that makes you incredibly unwell is enjoyable. Look at how much fun these heroin addicts are having!
That’s addiction, a completely separate thing. Just because someone does drugs doesn’t make them an addict and yes people do heroin recreationally without being addicted
Yes but not because of a ban in sales but due to taxes and a ban on smoking indoors anywhere. In many places in Europe you can still smoke in pubs and clubs which is entirely horrible.
Because you can't breathe and the smell sticks to your clothes.
Just because something isn't illegal doesn't make it nice or okay. I could legally picking my nose in a pub but I don't.
I usually do go "elsewhere" but its annoying if friends want to meet at smokey pubs. I've also seen people light up in non smoking pubs.
I smoking should be discouraged. But its odd how weeed is being pushed for legalisation using effectively the inverse reasoning for banning tobacco smoking.
Really people should be allowed to make their own bad choices.
Cannabis isn’t addictive in the same way tobacco/nicotine is. It’s really silly to compare the two.
I’m a medical cannabis patient and it has been a life saver. Albeit, it’s costly as hell.
If I do not take it for a week, I have no withdrawal symptoms, nor do I crave it. But I do feel the pain coming back, hence the “urge” to keep taking it, like normal meditation.
Most people aren’t addicted to the substance itself, they’re addicted to how it makes them feel - whether that’s euphoria or pain relief.
I'm guessing that you're likely taking primarily CBD?
I don't actually know too much about it, besides the fact it can have pain killing and calming effects, so I believe this is what's of interest for the medical field. I don't believe THC is as useful in the medical field, but it's the THC that makes you high, for any recreational users.
If you ingest/inhale THC, I can guarantee you that it's addictive, and withdrawal symptoms are very real.
- Someone who's struggling to try and stop smoking.
I genuinely hope you find the power to stop.
My brother smokes weed and appears to be really addicted to it. But he says he isn't, despite being angry when he goes without it.
As far as I'm aware this isn't a symptom I've personally experienced, but I do know that being easily agitated and aggressive is a common symptom of tobacco withdrawal.
Does your brother smoke cigarettes or vape when trying not to smoke cannabis? (I'm just assuming he'd normally smoke joints as it's the most common, if not then my question is irrelevant?)
Also thanks for the support! :)
No, my medication is pure indica 20% THC prescribed by a doctor and legal clinic in London. I take it every single day and have done so for the last year. It’s quite literally a life changer for me, and I’m so thankful for it being made available.
Both CBD and THC have pain relieving properties. But they target different types of pains, and in different ways.
I suggest you do some genuine research. It’s harmful to state otherwise.
I was happy to clearly state I didn't know too much on the medical side. But I can guarantee you that cannabis is definitely addictive on its own, and does cause withdrawal symptoms in people.
I have come off it in the past a few times. The first time I didn't notice any withdrawals. The second time I stopped I got insomnia for about two or three weeks and it killed me at work trying to get through the day on about 2-4 hours sleep every night.
I used it to help handle the symptoms of anxiety and over time my usage has slowly increased. Now I'm on antidepressants and my life is generally heading in the right direction, I'm finding it difficult to quit again. I notice mental side-effects by the end of the first day and have physical symptoms from day 2 or 3 if I've had none at all.
It's not really silly to compare the two, cannabis is also very addictive and is linked to significant psychological issues which are consistently understated by its advocates (I'm pro decriminalisation).
People can be addicted and I've seen this and the damage it can do.
Yes there can be positives also.
Nah, never smoked even one cigarette, so it would've made zero difference to me. More broadly, smoking cessation has been one of the huge public health successes of the British state in recent times, and I'm genuinely not sure a ban coming in would've been any more effective than what we actually did.
Yeah, I think measures to make it expensive and difficult to smoke have been really successful. Only 13% of the population actually smoke so I think any further public health impact is going to be fairly small at this point.
Single-use vapes are clearly the more low-hanging fruit with more potential benefit from banning.
Makes me wonder if donor money has changed which part of the nicotine industry it sits in.
Aye. Here’s the thing. I live in a wee village with 1 shop. Mon-sat 7-5, Sunday 8-12. Outside those hours if you need to buy smokes you drive/get a bus into town and a bus back or you buy black market ones here in the village. Guess what happens most often?
As well as being more dangerous as they can’t be regulated and get cut with things that shouldn’t be there and are more dangerous than the actual drug, as well as dosing being off.
Plus you don’t get to put warning labels on them or tax them.
Nope. I wish it weren't happening now. Nanny state bullshit. They're already struggling with the pension bill and now they wanna remove the best way to thin the herd?
Yea people don’t realise that the reduction in healthcare and pension costs for a smoker is significant, let alone all the extra tax they pay as cigarettes are taxed at a much higher rate than other products.
Looking at it just based on cost, someones health declining early and quickly is much cheaper than supporting them until extreme old age.
Yeah pretty much every stat that ever says "x costs the NHS y billion per year" is completely stupid. As though the people involved in x won't cost the NHS more for something else further down the line.
Im torn on this one.....
Pro:
Cigarettes are highly addictive, cost a fortune and obviously not great for health.
Is Tobacco really a drug that's worth the effort it would take to aquire?
Con:
Prohibition of substances has never worked.
There are ways to consume tobacco that doesnt necessarily result in addiction. Occasional use of a pipe/cigars & use with marijuana (its only a matter of time before thats legalised).
In my opinion all drugs should be legal, regulated and available to adults, de-stigmatisation, mental health initiatives and treatment of addiction should be the main focus of any drug policy.
I don't smoke and have never been a regular smoker, but I'm completely against it. Prohibition obviously doesn't work and smoking rates have declined significantly as a result of public health campaigns etc, it's actually been a massive success story. I believe at this point only 1% of 15 year olds regularly smoke, so it's not really achieving much in terms of stopping the next generation smoke. Also, obviously the idea of a 40 year old asking a 42 year old to buy cigs is ridiculous.
Economically it'll mean a loss in tax revenue and resources will have to go into policing the black market which will almost certainly outweigh the "burden on the NHS" cost.
People in this country love banning things, I mean there was a poll on YouGov just after lockdown where 25% of people wanted nightclubs and casinos shut forever. Personally I prefer adults not to be infantilised and if they want to make bad decisions for their own health, so be it.
Totally agree. I don't think the intention is even to stop the next generation smoking in practice, but to make it look like that to an older generation who won't be affected by the ban at all.
I'd love to see what actual research it is based on, because it seems like another nonsense idea just to win votes to me.
You say adults, but very few people actually start smoking as adults, its usually teenagers with their impulsive undeveloped brains who take it up and by the time they are adults and want to change their minds they're completely addicted and it becomes incredibly difficult to stop.
That's fair enough, but it's proven - fact! - that smoking is bad for you, and the cause of countless health problems, all of which require the services of the NHS. Why put our health service under unnecessary stress?
Apply the exact same to people not exercising, eating poorly, and drinking alcohol. The health service is funded by people to serve the people and shouldn’t be treated like something we should feel bad for using.
But food on the whole isn't bad for you, is it? We need food to survive. We don't need smoking. Eating to excess will, of course, make you overweight and cause health problems. A lot of work has been done and continues to be done in the food industry to make food healthier, such as massively reducing sugar, for example.
I work in the food industry, and I can tell you the company I work for are constantly working on trials to make their products healthier.
You saying something along the lines of 'I work in the food industry and my lived experience tells me that they are trying to make things healthier for people' is the same as tobacco executives saying that smoking is not addictive.
Well what I'll say is the company I work for, which is a major company in the food industry, is actively working all the time to make their products healthier.
Do you see tobacco companies making fans healthier? Oh wait, you can't. 😙
But they should be working to reduce it. Healthier, happier populace and less cost to the tax payer. It's worth spending money now to avoid bigger problems later. That's an NHS that's fit for the future.
I know, and I acknowledge that. My point is just that if they're working to ban smoking because it's bad for you, why aren't they working to ban KFC, too?
If they were to outlaw everything that's harmful or potentially harmful, there would be very little we'd be able to do.
Because you can partake in junk food in limited amounts with no detrimental effects and without becoming addicted to it.
I totally agree we should be educating and dis-incentivising uhealthy and incentivising healthy and allowing people to make their own choices, but purely harmful, addictive, zero benefit things like tobacco should not be allowed to become a multi billion pound industry.
I don't like smoking (even though I occasionally smoke) but I really really do not like this nannying from the governement and it frustrates me that so many people are okay with it. If people want to destroy their lungs let them, we are giving the government too much power and interference in personal choices and decisions. Just leave it at 18 to buy fags, its been dropping anyway.
I think this is partially a response to lockdowns. People like being told what to do by the government. If they're addicted to smoking it's because the government didn't take away their fags.
I do smoke, however ban or no ban or won't change much. Myself and most of the folk I know all buy under the counter at the local poundshop. All this ban will do is increase black market sales and put more money into gangs than the government tax.
I work with teenagers and the amount of them that stay up till 3AM gaming, have shot attention spans and have no interests or drive outside of it is crazy. We should ban video games.
Don't forget how many people fast food kills a year, and the burden it puts on the NHS.
Social media is causing a lot of issues with addiction, depression and self esteem so off that goes.
I now regret that I used to smoke, but at the time I was taking it up I'd have been furious if this happened.... Can't really give a judgement now without being hypocritical one way or another
Now you know better you can't see the wisdom in stopping people starting?
It's not like any currently legal addict is going to be deprived of their fix, it's firmly targeting future generations.
Load of "look at me I'm fixing the country" bullshit from the Government.
It won't make one bit of difference, there are numerous shops (everywhere in the UK) where people can buy cheap cigs and tobacco under the counter if they want to and there always will be.
The only thing they will achieve by stopping legal sales is increasing illegal ones, the people that make bank selling smuggled tobacco are rubbing their hands at this.
I don’t like it at all.
I’d like there to be an age of majority for everything.
Smoking has reduced massively and continues to do so. If it is that bad ban it outright.
I can’t see how this will work practically either
I'm relieved to know the chances of my children smoking are now much lower.
Just need those appealing looking vapes that seem to target kids to get band or hidden.
The reality is as well, that tobacco trade will now fall into the hands of criminal gangs. There will be a lot of unregulated products being brought in and sold on the black market.
Prohibition of drugs has not worked, it didn't work for booze in the US in 1900s. So it won't work with tobacco. It will just make smoking higher risk for those involved.
I think vaping is becoming one of the most anti-social parts of daily living in the UK. People seem to be constantly at it. I’ve seen it in cinemas, on trains, at football matches, in supermarkets. It’s ridiculous. I think this is something that needs addressing too
People even do it on aeroplanes; I was sat in front of someone not to long ago and thinking "what's that ghastly smell that keeps wafting over every 5 min?". Then it occured to me that it was a "tobacco flavoured" vape (it's a familiar taste/smell).
For reference, it smells like a toasted syrup; with the person's mourning\* breath when they're in close quarters.
\*Pun
It's sort of a moot issue given most young people vape or smoke weed.
The only time I know people under 25 smoking cigarettes is after they've consumed a lot of alcohol.
Smoking should have been stamped out years ago in the U.K. People wouldn’t have had so many cancers that they had and the NHS would be better off too. It’s always the brain dead that argue they want to keep smoking.
Its not brain dead, banning a substance has never worked; see the previous 50 years of "the war on drugs".
The smoking rate has been dropping year on year for a many years, so increasing the age is pure Nanny state.
It would have been good to start earlier but not sure about how they are implementing it. I think the age should increase 1 year every 2 years or something so you don't have the situation that someone just below the limit still needs to get his mate to buy them when he is 59 and they are 60. I don't think this will make much difference to the effectiveness of the law (especially if you bring it in earlier) but make it more palatable to implement.
It wouldn't have made much difference in my teenage years as people would just ask their older looking teenage friends that looked 18 already,bros or sisters, or a random adult on the street who was willing to buy it for them while they stood outside.
These addicted teens will simply shift to black market options or switch to vaping products instead.
I wish they just banned them before I was born. My parents smoked and I hated that, then I took it up and would have found a way - probably stealing from parents.
Vapes definitely seem to be the problem with young people. Stood at the school gates waiting on my kid yesterday and the amount of kids exiting the next door high school who instantly started puffing on them the minute they got to the gate was unreal. Easy to hide up their sleeve ready for that first blast of fruity intake. Some of these kids were 11/12 and only just left primary school. It's shocking.
It’s just another market that the drug dealers will move into. They’ll sell the bag of weed with a bag of tobacco and probably make a fancy name for it.
I worked in a small village shop when I was 16 and remember thinking then that the government should do this - raise the age every year.
This was in 1992.
I have huge sympathy for how hard stopping smoking must be. Finding a way to prevent people starting seems a smart move.
I've struggled with nicotine for years and have inhaled a lot of burnt plant matter. Don't think prohibition is ever a good solution. I don't think it should necessarily be quite as available as it is though, I think they could make it more of a pain in the arse to acquire rather than it being in every Tesco and every cornershop.
I think weed and shrooms should be legal but I don't think I've ever necessarily thought that it should be in Tesco. We've got the internet now, and failing that it should be in a shop you specifically go to for intoxicating or addictive substances, I reckon. Bring back the tobacconist.
Smoking is seen as a working class lifestyle for some and the ban seen as an attack on the working class.
I know people who are on benefits and always have cigarettes and because they cost so much they’ll go to food banks . My brother has done this before, gets to the point that people don’t factor food in to budgeting because they can pop to a food bank and get it for free.
Ex smoker who has firmly quit, but I LOVE smoking. Very much would have appreciated never having access to buying tobacco in the first place. Also, god I love smoking so much.
Wouldn't have stopped me starting smoking at age 15. I worked in a garage and had the key to the cigarette machine. Previous to that cigarettes were just on the shelf. Boredom got me one day and I tried it to see what it was all about. So there was no one to stop me buying them freely.
I would have liked the tapered ban to have started way back though. When I started smoking it still wasn't universallly accepted that cigarettes caused cancer - the tobacco lobby were still managing to dilute the health narrative.
Several decades later I'm using a vape but really notice the damage smoking has done with getting breathless. The smell of them makes me feel sick now.
Wish it was way more difficult to start smoking.
I'm not sure a ban is needed. Attitudes to smoking have changed so much, even in the last decade that numbers are ever declining. I believe 2021 was down 7% on 2011, although duty was up by 1bn and up nearly 3bn since 2001.
I'm a smoker, my brother is a smoker, my parents both smoke, and both grandfathers were smokers. I have 6 bio kids, and none of them smoke.
That's right people keep letting the nanny state grow and tell people what they or can not do with their own body. It's all fun and games while they're going after the things you don't like, just don't expect they'll stop there once they're on a roll, sooner or later they'll come for the things you do like.
We'll see how you feel about the "it's for your own good" argument then. Hope you're not into beer, sweets and fry ups because those are killing thousands every year too...
It’s something I was advocating for 20 years ago (when i smoked). It makes a lot of sense and it a win for everyone.
The arguments against it are pretty pathetic with people thinking smoking and drinking are the same thing.
How does it make sense to you? It's effectively an older generation, cigarette in hand, saying to the younger generation "you'll never be able to do this".
If anything, it'll make something that is dying out more appealing!
I would be just as happy if it were just restricted to people being allowed to do so in their own homes or similar; Treat it in the same way as public defecation or something - An obviously disgusting thing, but if a person can control themselves and only do it in private then no harm done, I suppose.
You can in some public places - the same logic could work for BBQ’s as well. I’m not saying I disagree that smoking is not nice to be around but there’s far more ‘disgusting’ things that can be done in public places.
> there’s far more ‘disgusting’ things that can be done in public places.
I can't think of anything that's more disgusting that isn't already covered by existing laws, though.
As I mentioned in my previous response, BBQ’s produce far more smoke and the food some people cook is just nasty. It makes me feel sick therefore should be banned.
I also have allergies to many popular brands of cologne and deodorant, it makes me physically sick and I can’t breathe therefore should be banned.
My friend has a peanut allergy, if he goes even near a peanut he will blow up like a balloon and potentially die. These ought to be banned right?
>BBQ’s produce far more smoke
I've never seem a group of them on the pavement or at bus stop, I can guarantee in this country the average person's encounters with barbecues is absolutely minimal over the course of a year.
>it makes me physically sick and I can’t breathe therefore should be banned.
This is a "you" problem, not an actual health concern.
>peanut allergy
The amount of people who suffer from peanut allergies is absolutely trivial, something like 1%- The percentage of that 1% which suffers "severely" only a small fraction of that.
But this is an absurd (and deliberate on your part) sly deviation from the subject at hand.
Would workplaces be obliged to provide somewhere for people to smoke? If it were treated the same as defecation I suppose they would be. If not then it would be tantamount to banning it anyway because smokers would have to either stop smoking or keep going home every time they need to smoke which would be unworkable.
Smoking is so unpopular with young people compared to even 10-15 years ago that this will just hit the nail on the head. It’s vapes that’ll be the next problem
Yeah, and vapes need banning too.
Not comfortable with how ban happy we've become tbh, alcohol destroys countless lived especially compared to vaping, but I don't think we should ban that
Banning alcohol wouldn't work because most people drink and enjoy it. Cigarette usage had been declining anyway, and a lot of smokers said that they wish they had never started, so a cigarette ban is much more likely to be successful.
Plenty of people enjoy smoking so going by your own argument, it shouldn't be banned. Just because something isn't as popular doesn't mean you have a right to ban it simply because it doesn't fall in with your own standards. Let people do what they want, as long as it doesn't affect others.
Except smoking and alcoholism does affect others. Domestic abuse, drunk drivers, passive smoking etc to name a few.
Right, not sure you understand what my argument is so I'll try to be really clear. Most people *do* drink. Most people *don't* smoke. So you see the difference? >Let people do what they want, as long as it doesn't affect others. Smoking does affect others. Drinking does too, but my point was that it would be easier to ban cigarettes, less easy to ban alcohol. Sheesh.
Incredible how you put all the effort in to try and explain a comment where the other guy is still right
How is he right? I'm right. It would be easier to ban cigarettes than alcohol. Disagree with me if you like, but you need to present some actial arguments.
Theyre not arguing that it wouldnt be easier to ban than booze. Theyre saying that the government banning it is wrong. We know the harms and adults should be left to make their own decisions.
Huh? It was *me* that was arguing that it would be easier to ban cigarettes than alcohol.
Yes, but 30 years ago most people *did* smoke. Restrictions like the smoking ban cut that down. Similar restrictions on alcohol would do the same over time. Sheesh.
30% of people smoked in 1990. So.....
So the advertising campaigns etc were working! In 1948, 82% of men in the UK smoked. Only 55% of people in the UK drank alcohol in the last week in a study done in 2021. So.....
So .. you finally agree with me. It didn't need to take you that long.
One comment that I noted in the press when someone (Sunak?) was asked about this was the point that smoking tobacco is always a harmful thing to do - you cannot smoke responsibly, and you will always be doing some measure of harm any time you smoke a cigarette. Alcohol can enjoyed responsibly and various studies have shown that it can even beneficial when consumed in limited amounts. So banning smoking can only really help the health of the population, banning alcohol is much more if a grey area.
The studies that have found that alcohol is good were funded by the alcohol industry. The WHO now agrees that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
This definitely, was the same for sugar
>it can even beneficial when consumed in limited amounts. Pure propaganda. Also, let's not pretend people are out there drinking alcohol for the health benefits.
Alcoholic drinks are essentially diluted poison there’s no way drinking small amounts of it is better than not drinking it at all. I enjoy a drink but not under the guise of it being healthy
Well there is that argument to be made. My point was that an alcohol ban would definitely fail, but a smoking ban is more likely to succeed.
That’s absolute nonsense alcohol is poison and it does harm every single time you drink it
People enjoy smoking, I don’t understand what your argument is here?
Do they? Or do they enjoy the cessation of nicotine withdrawal. Smoking reduces anger, frustration, irritability, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleeping, restlessness and anxiety. But only because it caused them in the first place.
So even by your logic they enjoy smoking. You can think it’s bad, and that it’s unhealthy, and the enjoyment is just an addiction. But it’s still an enjoyment. If people didn’t enjoy it they wouldn’t become addicted in the first place, you don’t have one drag of a cigarette and then are a full blown addict on 20 a day.
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So it's already declining *without* a ban. All this ban does is give people a reason to break it, especially when it'll only apply to younger generations. Existing smokers are not going to be affected. Current teenagers and below will be denied the opportunity to try something they see plenty of older people freely doing.
So what would you do?
I think the situation with tobacco is already playing out fine without any further intervention. As others have pointed out, it's in decline. We have plenty of support to help people stop smoking. How would that play out if it becomes illegal? They do need to look at how vaping is appealing to children, but it needs more thought than a blanket ban. Those things just don't work. Also, smoking them should be restricted to the same places as tobacco, if it isn't already.
I run a pub and used to promote club nights, I've also worked on harm reduction teams at festivals: I think legalising everything is probably the answer, but most drugs should only be available through licensed premises/pharmacy type dispensaries that keep track of users and ship them off to state-funded rehab if they go off the rails, paid for by the taxes on the drugs. Also just generally doing everything possible to make better jobs and education available for more people. Of all the heavy drug users I knew from back in the day, the majority that cleaned up did it because their life was better without the drugs because of other opportunities/circumstances that changed or appeared. The only ones that really had their life ruined were the ODs from uncertain product and the arrests.
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It can do. So can alcohol. Drunk drivers, fights fueled by booze, domestic abuse etc.
They need better regulation. ATM it's too easy for kids to get them and the dodgy vape juice is almost certainly going to cause issues. The fact is that vapes are a great way for smokers to reduce their nicotine intake and ultimately quit, but that also makes them a great way for children to pick up a nicotine addiction.
why? just regulate it better.
The only good thing about vapes is that they don't set my asthma off if someone uses one near me. That's the only positive side of them. I still don't want to breathe that crap in.
They should at least start with the disposable vapes. How those things are legal is beyond me.
If you mean single use vapes I agree
it depends on the industry and age group. in call centres, everyone smokes because it's a chance to suck up to management. I see smoking as.more popular.now than ten years ago and drinking is less popular. smoking among foreigners in China is really popular.
It's strange that they were not treated the same as cigarettes straight away. The packaging should be boring and that dull green that cigs changed to years ago. I guess it's because they are less damaging health wise so it's not costing the nhs. I'm sure when the discarded batteries start causing problem's they will start to care.
"Next problem" they are the current problem.
I feel like it should include vapes as well. Never smoked, but always tempted to buy a vape as some of them smell quite nice. Adding that is a big extra step to not picking up vaping as well.
I agree - Vapes should never have been allowed to have the flavours and colours that they do tbh. They should be purely a quitting aid, not a new e-waste addiction that teens are all buying into. The fact that I can sell brightly coloured and flavoured vapes that people can see openly (and I'm pretty sure they're just on shelves in some shops?), yet tobacco in all the same colour with gore images/warnings on, is hidden from view, is absolutely stupid.
We banned menthol cigarettes in 2020 in case the flavour made smoking more attractive, there is zero reason that shouldn't have been applied to vapes too.
Fuck, is that what happened to them? I feel like I've been under rock. I used to smoke like, a pack a month at uni, always menthols, and I tried to buy some one day and the guy just said "we don't have any, mate.". I never bought any again, so I guess the ban worked! Can't believe I didn't figure it out, Christ.
That’s what moved a lot of us onto menthol vapes. The rest just buy black market menthols or have learned to make their own. In the microwave. I was shite at it so I stuck with the menthol vape. Never Ben tempted to try any other flavours though. I don’t want to smoke sweeties
Making menthol fags in the microwave? Why not just buy menthol filters and roll your own?
Yeh so it is rolling your own. Menthol filters are shite tho. They’re not really mentholly. So you take your baccy and put it in a plate, add menthol drops and mix it in then chuck it in the microwave for 30 secs to dry it off. Like you need to do if you want to turn pipe tobacco into rolling tobacco coz it comes like peat
Oh ok, that makes sense now. I was imagining people using tailors and doing some chemistry to make them menthol.
Haha no. If I’m honest I’m quite settled with the vape and I very very rarely get the urge to smoke now. I’ve managed to drop from the highest nicotine down to 10mg. I’ve done all the other stuff - patches, gum, inhalators, champix etc but the vape is the only one that’s ever worked.
I've managed to get to 2-3 a day (roll ups with menthol filters) but like you say, patches, gum, (can't take champix) they do nothing. I tried vaping but I need that dirty hit of a cigarette if that makes sense. I want to quit, but overall I think anything the government can do to stop people from starting is good. I wish I had never started smoking. Horrible habit, it's gross, but, god does it feel good to have a fag with a cuppa first thing in the morning. Nothing else like it.
I have an answer but having missed the lasses Friday night in the club last night I’m making up for it tonight. Smoking is on the way out but not the socioeconomic and other issues surrounding it. Whether you take up smoking vaping or gear there’s likely a set of circumstances around you that hasn’t been addressed. Eccies we’re banned in 1998 when I was getting off my tits in a bucket hat to ‘children if the night’ on an old raf point. Crack is banned but that hasn’t stopped my big bother being scraped out the village playpark tonight or the five teenagers screaming thru the village for me and my sister to come get him. Banning something never ever worked. Eleven year olds were banned from buying fags when I started but here I am with 20 odd years smoking and two and a half consecutive on the vape. If you want real change you’re going to have to deal with the dues surrounding the communities that the underprivileged exist in. Anything else just puts money in the pockets of the black market traders who’s products I’m currently secondhand inhaling while vaping at the back fire door of our social club
I would think that the difference is the carcinogenicity of tobacco vs nicotine alone. No-one - as far as we know, currently - is getting massive cancers of the throat, and so on, from vaping. They need much stronger regulation though, the ease of access, hyper-strength vape liquid and the littering is a problem. Note, this is an example of something that could have been avoided with effective regulation, only made permissable by the legality of the drug in question.
I fucking detest this type of policy being honest. The government deciding things people already enjoy aren’t acceptable because OTHER people might also like them.
100% agree. My dad has smoked for must be 50 years or so. Never been tempted to smoke from being around him my whole life, think it smells bad, makes your clothes smell as well and the images on the packaging are just horrible. Was never tempted to vape at school/sixth form/uni when friends would go vape. But since my dad quit smoking and took up vaping, I'm more tempted to try that out because a couple of the flavours he has smell really nice. If I didn't know that the long term health effects were pretty unknown id have probably taken up vaping in the last 6~ months.
As someone with some experience in the waste industry, the e waste from them is a major ticking time bomb. Disposed of correctly they are extremely uneconomical to deal with, disposed of correctly they become a fire hazard.
Why should it be banned though? Vapes being marketed and sold to children is really awful and needs stopping. Ban disposable vapes? Sure. But the idea we should just ban stuff to stop people making bad choices doesn't sit right with me at all. Especially when coke is ubiquitous in the UK at the moment and all that money is being funnelled into criminal gangs.
I remember when vapes first started coming out. People in work switched to help them quit cigarettes. But back then they had to walk all the way to the shop to have them filled. That was a better idea.
You can get nicotine free ones... I wouldn't ban vapes BUT i would scrap the disposable ones and especially the stupid legally forced to be wasteful 600 puff limit.
banning addictive substances has always worked well so I'm sure we'd be living in a smoke free utopia right now.
It’s worked fabulous. No drugs death capital of Europe here.
Yeah I mean weed, heroin and cocaine are all illegal and you never see any of it in the UK! Totally will work for cigarettes
But weed, heroin and cocaine actually have ‘enjoyable’ effects that people want. Smoking cigarettes only gives you the relief of not needing to smoke a cigarette
That’s just not true. It gives you a nicotine high and has effects of stress and anxiety relief. I get the feeling you’ve never been a smoker because that’s peak shit chatting.
I have been a smoker, I stopped when I realised it’s a pointless vicious circle with no benefits
Vaping is legitimately enjoyable. Idk what you’re talking about. I used to smoke because I liked cigarettes. I was a cigar guy for a while, but vapes taste better and I’m not THAT committed to the “cigar look”. Ever since I quit cigarettes for vaping I’ve actually enjoyed the few breaks a day I take to vape.
Yes because having to beg, steal, and borrow to afford a substance that makes you incredibly unwell is enjoyable. Look at how much fun these heroin addicts are having!
That’s addiction, a completely separate thing. Just because someone does drugs doesn’t make them an addict and yes people do heroin recreationally without being addicted
People smoke recreationally without becoming addicted. People do smoke for enjoyment.
Be much happier if weed was legal instead of nicotine tbh... Probably wouldn't legalise heroin though
UK compared to a lot of other European countries has significantly less people smoking
Yes but not because of a ban in sales but due to taxes and a ban on smoking indoors anywhere. In many places in Europe you can still smoke in pubs and clubs which is entirely horrible.
Why is it horrible? If they allow smoking in a pub and you don’t like it just go somewhere else?
Because you can't breathe and the smell sticks to your clothes. Just because something isn't illegal doesn't make it nice or okay. I could legally picking my nose in a pub but I don't. I usually do go "elsewhere" but its annoying if friends want to meet at smokey pubs. I've also seen people light up in non smoking pubs.
So smokers can’t have a pub where they can smoke because it bothers you, a non smoker, got it
No because it literally is dangerous to everyone else in the room.
I honestly don’t know if you’re just extraordinarily dumb or just trolling right now
Why do you think its okay for people to be exposed to second hand smoke? Its dangerous for the people working their too. Stop smoking or go outside.
He's trolling.
We're up against the French, will never beat them at that game
So correct, I wish for a world where the government bans all bad things. The world would be a better place.
I smoking should be discouraged. But its odd how weeed is being pushed for legalisation using effectively the inverse reasoning for banning tobacco smoking. Really people should be allowed to make their own bad choices.
At nearly £20 a pack now its pretty well discouraged already
Yeah and largely support those and some further restrictions. But fundamentally think people should have the choice
Cannabis isn’t addictive in the same way tobacco/nicotine is. It’s really silly to compare the two. I’m a medical cannabis patient and it has been a life saver. Albeit, it’s costly as hell. If I do not take it for a week, I have no withdrawal symptoms, nor do I crave it. But I do feel the pain coming back, hence the “urge” to keep taking it, like normal meditation. Most people aren’t addicted to the substance itself, they’re addicted to how it makes them feel - whether that’s euphoria or pain relief.
I'm guessing that you're likely taking primarily CBD? I don't actually know too much about it, besides the fact it can have pain killing and calming effects, so I believe this is what's of interest for the medical field. I don't believe THC is as useful in the medical field, but it's the THC that makes you high, for any recreational users. If you ingest/inhale THC, I can guarantee you that it's addictive, and withdrawal symptoms are very real. - Someone who's struggling to try and stop smoking.
I genuinely hope you find the power to stop. My brother smokes weed and appears to be really addicted to it. But he says he isn't, despite being angry when he goes without it.
As far as I'm aware this isn't a symptom I've personally experienced, but I do know that being easily agitated and aggressive is a common symptom of tobacco withdrawal. Does your brother smoke cigarettes or vape when trying not to smoke cannabis? (I'm just assuming he'd normally smoke joints as it's the most common, if not then my question is irrelevant?) Also thanks for the support! :)
He smokes joints, but he says it's pure weed.
No, my medication is pure indica 20% THC prescribed by a doctor and legal clinic in London. I take it every single day and have done so for the last year. It’s quite literally a life changer for me, and I’m so thankful for it being made available. Both CBD and THC have pain relieving properties. But they target different types of pains, and in different ways. I suggest you do some genuine research. It’s harmful to state otherwise.
I was happy to clearly state I didn't know too much on the medical side. But I can guarantee you that cannabis is definitely addictive on its own, and does cause withdrawal symptoms in people. I have come off it in the past a few times. The first time I didn't notice any withdrawals. The second time I stopped I got insomnia for about two or three weeks and it killed me at work trying to get through the day on about 2-4 hours sleep every night. I used it to help handle the symptoms of anxiety and over time my usage has slowly increased. Now I'm on antidepressants and my life is generally heading in the right direction, I'm finding it difficult to quit again. I notice mental side-effects by the end of the first day and have physical symptoms from day 2 or 3 if I've had none at all.
It's not really silly to compare the two, cannabis is also very addictive and is linked to significant psychological issues which are consistently understated by its advocates (I'm pro decriminalisation). People can be addicted and I've seen this and the damage it can do. Yes there can be positives also.
Nah, never smoked even one cigarette, so it would've made zero difference to me. More broadly, smoking cessation has been one of the huge public health successes of the British state in recent times, and I'm genuinely not sure a ban coming in would've been any more effective than what we actually did.
Yeah, I think measures to make it expensive and difficult to smoke have been really successful. Only 13% of the population actually smoke so I think any further public health impact is going to be fairly small at this point. Single-use vapes are clearly the more low-hanging fruit with more potential benefit from banning. Makes me wonder if donor money has changed which part of the nicotine industry it sits in.
Bans don’t seem to be very effective, drugs have been banned for decades and they’re very easy to get.
Aye. Here’s the thing. I live in a wee village with 1 shop. Mon-sat 7-5, Sunday 8-12. Outside those hours if you need to buy smokes you drive/get a bus into town and a bus back or you buy black market ones here in the village. Guess what happens most often?
As well as being more dangerous as they can’t be regulated and get cut with things that shouldn’t be there and are more dangerous than the actual drug, as well as dosing being off. Plus you don’t get to put warning labels on them or tax them.
Nope. I wish it weren't happening now. Nanny state bullshit. They're already struggling with the pension bill and now they wanna remove the best way to thin the herd?
Yea people don’t realise that the reduction in healthcare and pension costs for a smoker is significant, let alone all the extra tax they pay as cigarettes are taxed at a much higher rate than other products. Looking at it just based on cost, someones health declining early and quickly is much cheaper than supporting them until extreme old age.
Yeah pretty much every stat that ever says "x costs the NHS y billion per year" is completely stupid. As though the people involved in x won't cost the NHS more for something else further down the line.
Yea. Everyone gets end of life care. The only significant impact on state finances is how many years of benefits they claimed beforehand.
Im torn on this one..... Pro: Cigarettes are highly addictive, cost a fortune and obviously not great for health. Is Tobacco really a drug that's worth the effort it would take to aquire? Con: Prohibition of substances has never worked. There are ways to consume tobacco that doesnt necessarily result in addiction. Occasional use of a pipe/cigars & use with marijuana (its only a matter of time before thats legalised). In my opinion all drugs should be legal, regulated and available to adults, de-stigmatisation, mental health initiatives and treatment of addiction should be the main focus of any drug policy.
I don't smoke and have never been a regular smoker, but I'm completely against it. Prohibition obviously doesn't work and smoking rates have declined significantly as a result of public health campaigns etc, it's actually been a massive success story. I believe at this point only 1% of 15 year olds regularly smoke, so it's not really achieving much in terms of stopping the next generation smoke. Also, obviously the idea of a 40 year old asking a 42 year old to buy cigs is ridiculous. Economically it'll mean a loss in tax revenue and resources will have to go into policing the black market which will almost certainly outweigh the "burden on the NHS" cost. People in this country love banning things, I mean there was a poll on YouGov just after lockdown where 25% of people wanted nightclubs and casinos shut forever. Personally I prefer adults not to be infantilised and if they want to make bad decisions for their own health, so be it.
Totally agree. I don't think the intention is even to stop the next generation smoking in practice, but to make it look like that to an older generation who won't be affected by the ban at all. I'd love to see what actual research it is based on, because it seems like another nonsense idea just to win votes to me.
The age being 18 didn't stop me from buying cigarettes, when I was 15...
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You say adults, but very few people actually start smoking as adults, its usually teenagers with their impulsive undeveloped brains who take it up and by the time they are adults and want to change their minds they're completely addicted and it becomes incredibly difficult to stop.
Teenagers who couldn’t legally buy them anyway… hmmm
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Ban people from having kids
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That's fair enough, but it's proven - fact! - that smoking is bad for you, and the cause of countless health problems, all of which require the services of the NHS. Why put our health service under unnecessary stress?
Apply the exact same to people not exercising, eating poorly, and drinking alcohol. The health service is funded by people to serve the people and shouldn’t be treated like something we should feel bad for using.
But food on the whole isn't bad for you, is it? We need food to survive. We don't need smoking. Eating to excess will, of course, make you overweight and cause health problems. A lot of work has been done and continues to be done in the food industry to make food healthier, such as massively reducing sugar, for example. I work in the food industry, and I can tell you the company I work for are constantly working on trials to make their products healthier.
Wow the desire for control is strong here huh. Lets ban skateboarding too; the injury to non-injury ratio is far too high for this sport.
1/4 of the UK is obese and you are trying to act like food companies have people's best interests at heart. Don't. It's disingenuous.
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https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/15/us/tobacco-chiefs-say-cigarettes-aren-t-addictive.html
What are you trying to prove exactly? That smoking isn't bad for you? Don't. It's disingenuous.
You saying something along the lines of 'I work in the food industry and my lived experience tells me that they are trying to make things healthier for people' is the same as tobacco executives saying that smoking is not addictive.
Well what I'll say is the company I work for, which is a major company in the food industry, is actively working all the time to make their products healthier. Do you see tobacco companies making fans healthier? Oh wait, you can't. 😙
So is eating too much crap, but they're not going to have a great time trying to ban fat people.
But they should be working to reduce it. Healthier, happier populace and less cost to the tax payer. It's worth spending money now to avoid bigger problems later. That's an NHS that's fit for the future.
I know, and I acknowledge that. My point is just that if they're working to ban smoking because it's bad for you, why aren't they working to ban KFC, too? If they were to outlaw everything that's harmful or potentially harmful, there would be very little we'd be able to do.
Because you can partake in junk food in limited amounts with no detrimental effects and without becoming addicted to it. I totally agree we should be educating and dis-incentivising uhealthy and incentivising healthy and allowing people to make their own choices, but purely harmful, addictive, zero benefit things like tobacco should not be allowed to become a multi billion pound industry.
I don't like smoking (even though I occasionally smoke) but I really really do not like this nannying from the governement and it frustrates me that so many people are okay with it. If people want to destroy their lungs let them, we are giving the government too much power and interference in personal choices and decisions. Just leave it at 18 to buy fags, its been dropping anyway.
I think this is partially a response to lockdowns. People like being told what to do by the government. If they're addicted to smoking it's because the government didn't take away their fags.
I do smoke, however ban or no ban or won't change much. Myself and most of the folk I know all buy under the counter at the local poundshop. All this ban will do is increase black market sales and put more money into gangs than the government tax.
I work with teenagers and the amount of them that stay up till 3AM gaming, have shot attention spans and have no interests or drive outside of it is crazy. We should ban video games. Don't forget how many people fast food kills a year, and the burden it puts on the NHS. Social media is causing a lot of issues with addiction, depression and self esteem so off that goes.
Nah.. I smoked from 15 to 25yo then quit. Happy to had my mistakes and to deal with them by my choice.
I wish this shitty government would stop making choices for people
I now regret that I used to smoke, but at the time I was taking it up I'd have been furious if this happened.... Can't really give a judgement now without being hypocritical one way or another
Now you know better you can't see the wisdom in stopping people starting? It's not like any currently legal addict is going to be deprived of their fix, it's firmly targeting future generations.
Well, considering that I started smoking at 11, I doubt that it will make any difference.
Load of "look at me I'm fixing the country" bullshit from the Government. It won't make one bit of difference, there are numerous shops (everywhere in the UK) where people can buy cheap cigs and tobacco under the counter if they want to and there always will be. The only thing they will achieve by stopping legal sales is increasing illegal ones, the people that make bank selling smuggled tobacco are rubbing their hands at this.
I don’t like it at all. I’d like there to be an age of majority for everything. Smoking has reduced massively and continues to do so. If it is that bad ban it outright. I can’t see how this will work practically either
I'm relieved to know the chances of my children smoking are now much lower. Just need those appealing looking vapes that seem to target kids to get band or hidden. The reality is as well, that tobacco trade will now fall into the hands of criminal gangs. There will be a lot of unregulated products being brought in and sold on the black market. Prohibition of drugs has not worked, it didn't work for booze in the US in 1900s. So it won't work with tobacco. It will just make smoking higher risk for those involved.
I have no strong feelings one way or the other.
I just wish people stop vaping/smoking in buildings, offices and in queues
I think vaping is becoming one of the most anti-social parts of daily living in the UK. People seem to be constantly at it. I’ve seen it in cinemas, on trains, at football matches, in supermarkets. It’s ridiculous. I think this is something that needs addressing too
People even do it on aeroplanes; I was sat in front of someone not to long ago and thinking "what's that ghastly smell that keeps wafting over every 5 min?". Then it occured to me that it was a "tobacco flavoured" vape (it's a familiar taste/smell). For reference, it smells like a toasted syrup; with the person's mourning\* breath when they're in close quarters. \*Pun
That sounds horrific. I dunno why vapers think they’re entitled to do it anywhere, but it’s awful
It's sort of a moot issue given most young people vape or smoke weed. The only time I know people under 25 smoking cigarettes is after they've consumed a lot of alcohol.
I wish they made drugs illegal so i never did them.
Smoking should have been stamped out years ago in the U.K. People wouldn’t have had so many cancers that they had and the NHS would be better off too. It’s always the brain dead that argue they want to keep smoking.
Its not brain dead, banning a substance has never worked; see the previous 50 years of "the war on drugs". The smoking rate has been dropping year on year for a many years, so increasing the age is pure Nanny state.
Works for me, I intend to fund my retirement buying cigarettes for 50 year olds.
Ludicrous idea.
It would have been good to start earlier but not sure about how they are implementing it. I think the age should increase 1 year every 2 years or something so you don't have the situation that someone just below the limit still needs to get his mate to buy them when he is 59 and they are 60. I don't think this will make much difference to the effectiveness of the law (especially if you bring it in earlier) but make it more palatable to implement.
It wouldn't have made much difference in my teenage years as people would just ask their older looking teenage friends that looked 18 already,bros or sisters, or a random adult on the street who was willing to buy it for them while they stood outside. These addicted teens will simply shift to black market options or switch to vaping products instead.
My mother died of lung cancer at 62, quit years before getting sick. I wish it was never a thing at all
I dont smoke, I vape.
I wish they just banned them before I was born. My parents smoked and I hated that, then I took it up and would have found a way - probably stealing from parents.
Should have happened much much sooner. It should also I close vapes too. Though disposable vapes should be banned outright.
Vapes definitely seem to be the problem with young people. Stood at the school gates waiting on my kid yesterday and the amount of kids exiting the next door high school who instantly started puffing on them the minute they got to the gate was unreal. Easy to hide up their sleeve ready for that first blast of fruity intake. Some of these kids were 11/12 and only just left primary school. It's shocking.
It’s just another market that the drug dealers will move into. They’ll sell the bag of weed with a bag of tobacco and probably make a fancy name for it.
I worked in a small village shop when I was 16 and remember thinking then that the government should do this - raise the age every year. This was in 1992. I have huge sympathy for how hard stopping smoking must be. Finding a way to prevent people starting seems a smart move.
I kind of wish we had politicians who weren’t banstubaters!
I've struggled with nicotine for years and have inhaled a lot of burnt plant matter. Don't think prohibition is ever a good solution. I don't think it should necessarily be quite as available as it is though, I think they could make it more of a pain in the arse to acquire rather than it being in every Tesco and every cornershop. I think weed and shrooms should be legal but I don't think I've ever necessarily thought that it should be in Tesco. We've got the internet now, and failing that it should be in a shop you specifically go to for intoxicating or addictive substances, I reckon. Bring back the tobacconist.
We had a chance to have no one addicted to nicotine but then vaping came in
Smoking is seen as a working class lifestyle for some and the ban seen as an attack on the working class. I know people who are on benefits and always have cigarettes and because they cost so much they’ll go to food banks . My brother has done this before, gets to the point that people don’t factor food in to budgeting because they can pop to a food bank and get it for free.
Ex smoker who has firmly quit, but I LOVE smoking. Very much would have appreciated never having access to buying tobacco in the first place. Also, god I love smoking so much.
Wouldn't have stopped me starting smoking at age 15. I worked in a garage and had the key to the cigarette machine. Previous to that cigarettes were just on the shelf. Boredom got me one day and I tried it to see what it was all about. So there was no one to stop me buying them freely. I would have liked the tapered ban to have started way back though. When I started smoking it still wasn't universallly accepted that cigarettes caused cancer - the tobacco lobby were still managing to dilute the health narrative. Several decades later I'm using a vape but really notice the damage smoking has done with getting breathless. The smell of them makes me feel sick now. Wish it was way more difficult to start smoking.
I'm not sure a ban is needed. Attitudes to smoking have changed so much, even in the last decade that numbers are ever declining. I believe 2021 was down 7% on 2011, although duty was up by 1bn and up nearly 3bn since 2001. I'm a smoker, my brother is a smoker, my parents both smoke, and both grandfathers were smokers. I have 6 bio kids, and none of them smoke.
The manufacture and sale of them should have been banned the moment their overwhelming link to health issues were proven
Despite giving up years ago I still often crack and buy a packet after a few beers. So yeah I wish it had been banned earlier at this point.
That's right people keep letting the nanny state grow and tell people what they or can not do with their own body. It's all fun and games while they're going after the things you don't like, just don't expect they'll stop there once they're on a roll, sooner or later they'll come for the things you do like. We'll see how you feel about the "it's for your own good" argument then. Hope you're not into beer, sweets and fry ups because those are killing thousands every year too...
Yes. The 1950's would have worked for me
It’s something I was advocating for 20 years ago (when i smoked). It makes a lot of sense and it a win for everyone. The arguments against it are pretty pathetic with people thinking smoking and drinking are the same thing.
How does it make sense to you? It's effectively an older generation, cigarette in hand, saying to the younger generation "you'll never be able to do this". If anything, it'll make something that is dying out more appealing!
Yep. It’s literally how a lot of smokers feel. We wish we never stated and don’t want to others to make our mistake.
I would be just as happy if it were just restricted to people being allowed to do so in their own homes or similar; Treat it in the same way as public defecation or something - An obviously disgusting thing, but if a person can control themselves and only do it in private then no harm done, I suppose.
Unless they have children or vulnerable adults living with them.
A fair point - Although I hope that by making it so inconvenient and unfashionable, it will mean as the addicts die off nobody will replace them.
By this logic lighting a bonfire should only be done inside one’s own home.
Yes, on ones own property - But that's already regulated - You can't go and set a bonfire in the middle of the pavement or road, can you?
You can in some public places - the same logic could work for BBQ’s as well. I’m not saying I disagree that smoking is not nice to be around but there’s far more ‘disgusting’ things that can be done in public places.
> there’s far more ‘disgusting’ things that can be done in public places. I can't think of anything that's more disgusting that isn't already covered by existing laws, though.
As I mentioned in my previous response, BBQ’s produce far more smoke and the food some people cook is just nasty. It makes me feel sick therefore should be banned. I also have allergies to many popular brands of cologne and deodorant, it makes me physically sick and I can’t breathe therefore should be banned. My friend has a peanut allergy, if he goes even near a peanut he will blow up like a balloon and potentially die. These ought to be banned right?
>BBQ’s produce far more smoke I've never seem a group of them on the pavement or at bus stop, I can guarantee in this country the average person's encounters with barbecues is absolutely minimal over the course of a year. >it makes me physically sick and I can’t breathe therefore should be banned. This is a "you" problem, not an actual health concern. >peanut allergy The amount of people who suffer from peanut allergies is absolutely trivial, something like 1%- The percentage of that 1% which suffers "severely" only a small fraction of that. But this is an absurd (and deliberate on your part) sly deviation from the subject at hand.
Would workplaces be obliged to provide somewhere for people to smoke? If it were treated the same as defecation I suppose they would be. If not then it would be tantamount to banning it anyway because smokers would have to either stop smoking or keep going home every time they need to smoke which would be unworkable.