Smoking ban

About 30 years ago, DH was working for a company that was running sensory trials for a major tobacco company. One of the company employees said to him “Tobacco is a dying industry- but it’ll take another 50 years”

This is one step on the way to the goal of making it not worth the tobacco companies’ while to produce cigarettes. It will reduce the amount sold in this country by more each year, the companies will lose their economies of scale and eventually it won’t be profitable for them to sell cigarettes in the uk. (Removing the duty free allowance of cigarettes would also help)By then, hopefully other countries may have started to follow suit.
Yes, there will be people buying cigarettes for friends, but before long teenagers wanting to start smoking will have to get them from people much older - it won’t be so easy. It will happen, but on a smaller scale every year, and it will start to have an effect on the number of kids that start smoking.

I'm sorry but I think that is somewhat naive and idealistic thinking. Logically it seems clunky and badly thought out that a policy can apply to some but not all of a year group, friendship group and even relationship

My DD was born in Feb 2009 so is banned. Her friends born on Dec 2008 can buy cigarettes when 18. So they can blow smoke rings in her face when they are 18.

I don't get how some people are seeing those born in 2009 and younger as the losers in this. A simple, straightforward, wise choice has been made on their behalf and taken out of their hands.

Anybody boasting about being able to seriously impede their health and very likely significantly shortening their life to somebody who has to miss out on those 'benefits' must really be quite dim.

Also, maybe I'm foolish, but children do often take things on board as being 'bad' and will change the culture of opinion towards them themselves. Once smoking is 'something stupid that old people do', hopefully a lot of them will make more enlightened choices, even if they legally could get in under the wire and start to smoke.

I fully support the ban. There is nothing good about smoking and it appears education alone is not enough to stop some youngsters smoking. Making cigarettes difficult to get hold of will definitely help. Of course some kids will still get hold of them, same as some kids will get hold of illegal drugs. But we shouldn't hand it to them on a platter.

Smoking threads always turn into a masterclass in false equivalence.

One cannot passively consume fatty or sugary food, or alcohol (except breastfed babies). The same cannot be said for cigarette smoke. It isn’t just bad for the smoker, it’s bad for everyone who happens to be near them.

I could sit in my living room and binge on booze and chocolate and cocaine next to my DC all day every day and their livers and noses would be fine, and they wouldn’t develop diabetes. If I smoked around them however, there’s a good chance they’d end up with respiratory problems.

I support this ban, just as I’d support a ban on smoking in all outdoor/public places. I’m tired of walking out of a train station/shopping centre/hospital and straight into a cloud of smoke. I’m tired of having to cross the road or speed up to move past someone smoking 20 yards ahead of me in the street so my DC and I don’t have to breathe that shit in.

Many thanks for the like minded comments.
It is disgusting that some chose to smoke near entrances to hospitals where none smokers have to endure the gauntlet of smokers even though massive signs say 'NO SMOKING'

As I said a hospital i visit the smokers sit on a wall outside in front of a childrens/baby unit and in the summer windows cant be open because of the stench going up in to that unit

All smoking inc vaping must be banned in public IMO

It will be up to trading standard to ensure that traders are properly checking ID, just as it is now. Not much changes in reality.

Yep I mean it’s not like there’s anything else to think about is there. The world is imploding and they’re titting about thinking of shit to ban

I don’t think it will work, hard to police as well

i would rather a complete ban on cigarettes from a certain date maybe 2030 or something

@Illpickthatup Well, I just went to the trouble of registering for the Lancet and reading the article - which I guess you didn't do as it doesn't support your assertion at all. It states that 50g of processed meat a day is associated with an 18% increased risk of colorectal cancer. Compare this with smoking which increases the risk of lung cancer by 2600% (not a typo). Not really comparable are they?

The only way that tobacco companies can continue is to recruit a new group of addicts. They have set out to trap children. Adults do not choose to smoke.
Children do. If they could not rely on a new cohort of 13 yr olds every year they would have to close their industries.
We need to save our children from this most unhealthy pursuit.
Already we save them from injury or reduce the risks where we can. Helmets for cycling. Special designed seats in cars. buoyancy aids on or near water. You will think of many other instances of how we care for our children.
Let us stop tobacco and vape industries and reduce risk further.

Yes, I agree. If children are being harmed, that's even more of a reason to clamp down on it.

There are various things where people who have that right get to keep it for the rest of their life, but younger people will never have that right - and thus will never have to get used to it/addicted to it and then suddenly lose it.

Should I be outraged because I could not legally drive without passing a driving test to prove my competence, just because my Grandad applied for and received his licence in the post before 1935 - and then got to keep that entitlement until he died?!

Your daughter can smoke now if she wants to. There's no legal age limit for smoking - the limit is on purchasing tobacco which is currently 18 but will rise by a year every year. It's really not that difficult to understand.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(15)00444-1/abstract

The whole HoC just tinkers around the edges whilst ignoring the important issues.
What a waste of parliamentary time- the ban will be completely ineffective in any case.

MPs from all sides emulating Nero

I'm not against a ban but I think it's very naive to think that kids just wont smoke anymore. Far better to spend money on educating everyone on what an awful idea it is.

I'm generally against being told what I can and cannot do however with smoking I think there is strong argument to ban completely given how totally awful it is for one's health. Different to say sugar, alcohol, red meat etc which are not unharmful in moderation.

I'm a smoker and I'm good with the ban.

It might fuel an underground trade while it's still available to those who have access to purchase, but let's face it, we're gonna die off! And then the day will come when it's no longer available. And so the underground trade will become harder and harder, and I expect most people won't bother for a smoke.

I imagine it would have a large effect.

It's definitely a good thing, anything that discourages young people from starting to become addicted to such a vile habit has to be a good thing. Surprised at how many people seem against it.
Lost both grandparents in their 60s to lung cancer and I just think we have to start banning this for future generations. An outright ban wouldn't work due to how many addicted people there are.

@Illpickthatup "People know it kills yet still choose to do it. Bacon is apparently just as carcinogenic as cigarettes. Would those in support of the smoking ban also support a banning bacon?"

Can you point out the research backing this up? Or maybe just tell me how many bacon-related cancers the NHS has to deal with every year? Or maybe just stop making up utter rubbish.

My dad made it to 86 after smoking from age 9

It won't be a police matter. It will be a trading standards and licensing matter - just like underage cigarette sales are now.

People know it kills yet still choose to do it. Bacon is apparently just as carcinogenic as cigarettes. Would those in support of the smoking ban also support a banning bacon?

I think it's a slippery slope. People know the dangers. If they're stupid enough to do something that will kill them then let them crack on. Drugs are banned and a huge chunk of the population do them anyway. There are lots of things that are bad for us. You have to let people make choices for their own lives whether they be good or bad.

I think it will be unenforceable and so don't support it for that reason. I do think we should ban smoking immediately in all public places - it should only be allowed in private homes.

Asymmetric. I would happily support it, if they also ban cannabis, sugar, fat and alcohol. Parks in Cheltenham stink of cannabis and lots of fat people waddling around town last time I was there.

This, to be honest I don't agree with smoking, drugs or heavy alcohol use. But banning it just fuels the criminal element in society. If you make these things legal but difficult to use, ie total ban on smoking in any public place then it's the individuals responsibility and they should also have to deal with the effects by paying for health care related to the use of these substances.

After all we have know for decades that smoking kills, this message was being trotted out in the 80's and 90's. No one has an excuse not to know this.

Making it illegal can make it more dangerous as you don't even know what you could be taking. Prohibition worked so well in America in the 1920's, more people died of moonshine then beforehand.