New smoking ban for anyone born after 2009

[Volbeat]

Hey all, just wondering what people's thoughts are on the smoking ban that will come into force which mean anyone born after 2009 will never legally be able to buy cigarettes.

My opinion is that it will be good for public health in general and I say this as a smoker. But what about all the tax etc generated from cigarette and vape sales?

Apologies if this is already being discussed, I've not seen it anywhere on here yet.

They tried implementing something very similar in NZ. Not sure on the exact details as I’ve not smoked myself for 10+ years but I remember the guys I worked with being somewhat annoyed about the whole thing. They went back on it again, I believe because of the loss of income from taxation.
I expect this would be the case here too. There’s too much money to be made from smoking!
It also seems a bit pie in the sky because, as has been mentioned, vaping is out of control, even in under 18s, and it seems nothing can be or is being done to prevent that.
I think it’s a nice idea… just not sure how possible it would be to effectively implement.

I think it's a good idea.

Yes it curtails people's individual rights to choose to smoke, but there are other ways in which we have curtailed people's choice on safety grounds. They were no doubt controversial at the time (I'm thinking of things like seat belts and child seats in cars and helmets for motorcyclists), but on the whole are accepted now.

I read today that 75,000 people die in the UK every year because of smoking-related illness and in 2022-23 there were over 400,000 smoking-related admissions to the NHS (I assume that means in-patient admissions but it wasn't clear).

I would go further and ban vaping, except on prescription to those trying to give up smoking.

I have never smoked and hate it, so probably have an extreme view, but I have never known any smoker who wished they had never started (except when I was a teenager when my smoking contemporaries thought it was cool).

No, I don’t agree with all laws.

And come on, didn’t covid show us anything about how our freedoms could be taken away one by one?

There are people who would be for a law against smoking.

There are people who would be for a law against abortions.

There are people who would be for a law in which disabled people could be forcibly institutionalised, or sterilised.

Theres the slippery slope. It starts with something that you would be all for - but what if one day, there was a law that affected you, or that you didn’t agree with?

Yes it curtails people's individual rights to choose to smoke

It curtails some peoples rights to choose to smoke by blatant discrimination.

The first year is no biggie. But in year 2, you will have a 19 and a 20 year old being treated differently in law. Not quite sure that's a good precedent.

The government forbid a lot. What do you think laws are! Drink driving is forbidden, drinking under the age of 18! And so on and so on

Ending up in a country where a 40 year old and a 41 year old are treated differently by the law doesn't seem like progress, to be honest.

There is a saying about the road to hell.

Having seen the devastating impact smoking related cancer had on my father in law and the fall out from his hideously cruel death, it can only be a good thing.

Why people still insist on continuing such a disgusting harmful habit is beyond me. Making it harder for the younger generations to access isn’t going to eradicate it but it will certainly help.

Smokers- Stink, gross breath, their teeth are yellow, their hair and skin always looks dry, they have lines around their mouth, that never ending phlegmy cough sounds grim. It’s time it was outlawed.

This is how I feel, and this is what I said on another thread. Whilst in some ways I wish smoking had never been invented and it would fall off the planet tomorrow, we can't take away the fact that people are seriously addicted to it. Apparently it's more addictive than heroin. I have heard that via many different sources.

Yes, I think it's a good idea to try and dispense with it over the coming years or decades, but I don't feel very comfortable with the government telling us what we can and can't do. It all feels a little bit draconian.

Then again, they did ban it from cinemas, buses, trains, indoor shopping centres, workplaces, and PUBS, and pretty much anywhere and everywhere indoors in the mid-late noughties, and whilst some people were outraged by it, they adapted, and got used to it.

I remember nearly choking to death, and having tears streaming down my cheeks when I was on a 4 HOUR coach trip once, and people were smoking around me. I was happy and relieved when people were not allowed to smoke anywhere public indoors/inside, including coaches, buses, trains, and planes.

I knew a woman some 15 years ago, who could go no further than north-west Europe on a plane. She could not go without a cigarette for any longer than 2 hours. Therefore she couldn't go on any flight any longer than that. I found it both pathetic, and sad. She went outside at work (for a smoke) every 35 minutes for 10 minutes. (In addition to her official breaks.) The boss smoked too and went with her, and it was 'allowed' because he smoked too.

Us non-smokers weren't allowed to down tools every 35 minutes for 10 minutes though, as we didn't have an addiction like them. Whilst I know they couldn't help being addicted, it felt very unjust and unfair.

@cadygal257 The government forbid a lot. What do you think laws are! Drink driving is forbidden, drinking under the age of 18! And so on and so on

Yeah this is true. I think when any law comes in some people moan about it. I remember my parents (in the 1980s) saying 'no WAY are we ever wearing a bloody seat belt in the car. Sod what the government says!' Within a year they felt uncomfortable and unsafe without it. Upshot is, people don't like being told what to do, and they don't like changes. They will get used to it.

This is another one of those debates which gets diluted and nowhere.

Nobody is actually supporting the notion of smoking (as far as I can see). There is universal agreement that it's a Bad Thing.

However that clearly isn't a mandate to do anything (otherwise they would have banned it outright). And with that some, a few, a lot, of people are question if this really is the right way to go about things.

my worry is about cigarettes being part of drug dealers cache. Pushing it underground.

apart from that I'm ok with it. So what if a 40 year old has to show ID? Hopefully the 39 yo wouldn't have become addicted to them and if they have friend will buy them for them. They're not going to get checked for smoking them.

then one day they'll just age out.

theres no benefit to smoking so why the resistance to stamp it out??

I'm all for discouraging smoking but for the life of me I can't work out the future practicalities of enforcement!

My DGD is soon to be 15, from what I understand she will never be allowed to buy cigarettes ever, but her 16 year old friend will be allowed to buy for the rest of her life if she wishes.

So how does this work in say 10/20/30 years' time - will shopkeepers have to see ID each and every time before a purchases as they obviously won't know who is was over 15 in 2024!

people objected to to the drink/driving ban but here we are years later and we know it was a good thing. People are still being injured/killed today in drink/drive accidents but nowhere near the numbers there were.

I think anything which deters smoking can only be good.
My father and his siblings grew up in the thirties and smoked from about 14 years old. All bar one of the four brothers and one sister died from smoking related disease. They were encouraged to smoke in their youth and there was no science saying it was harmful back then.
Anyone still smoking today has the knowledge that it kills but some still continue. Of course we all make various choices about risks we take in life.
Young people and children actually starting smoking having the awareness we now have of cancer, copd etc is obviously unbelievably stupid but that is youth for you. I am sure we have all done stupid things at some point.
As regards vaping if these are sold as an aid to stopping smoking rather than as a nasty habit in their own right (which is I believe the governments reasoning for not targeting them) then I think they should only be available in a chemist in plain non flavoured varieties and perhaps this would limit children and young people buying them.

You know what? I actually genuinely never realised that there was a drink and a driving ban ever put in place. I actually assumed it had always been illegal to be behind the wheel of a motor vehicle whilst inebriated, ever since cars were invented. I thought it had always been a given that you can't drink and drive.

I just googled it. And yes, indeed, the drink and drive ban came into force in 1967 - a few years before I was born. Probably why I'm not really aware of it happening. Like I said, I assumed you were NEVER allowed to do it.

I used to have an auntie that used to have probably the equivalent of 6-8 shorts of whiskey at our house when she came to visit us a couple of times a month and then have a 2 to 3 mile drive home. This was probably mid to late 1970s - so it looks like she took quite a long time to get used to the ban! I was a child then but knew drinking and driving was illegal - and was shocked that she did it, but I never knew that had been legal right up to 1967.

Hopefully it will work, and it will stop people starting. So practically in 10-20 years time it won't matter too much as the younger generations won't have started.

They definitely need to address the vape situation as there are kids in primary schools vaping. We don't know the long term effects on them.

I am generally for the smoking ban and I think it is good news. I work in healthcare and see a lot of the effects of a life smoking. (It is just lungs and cancer, it is vascular disease and limb loss)

I’m a non smoker. I’d love to see more places smoke free. For example in Singapore and Hong Kong you cannot smoke in parks. I also find smoke irritating when it wafts over in pub beer gardens, or when people come out of the pub to smoke and stand by your table.

But looking ahead, l fail to see how things will work when a 30 year old (and lots of them!) needs to prove she is over 29.

Ex smoker here. I agree smoking is harmful and anti social but I would prefer more input into tackling the enormous problem of class A drugs that we seem.to have acquired here in the UK

I 100% agree with this ban. Yes I do understand the possible "black market" issues it could cause however, I genuinely think this will help smoking to die out in general, it will become less fashionable and less and less people will want to smoke, especially those born after 2009. I have 2 daughters and I'm expecting a 3rd and I certainly don't want smoking to be available for them.
We won't start seeing the effects of this ban for a while unfortunately, we will all still be breathing in second hand smoke for a while. It's vile.

Another thing was enforcing use of seat belts. people were outraged at that.

1983

It will end up with anyone buying cigarettes having to show identification Lots of people won't want to bother so won't and lots of shops won't bother selling them

My main concern is that we'll end up in a few years time with a 28 year old having different rights to a 29 year old. Something about the age thing doesn't sit right. It will also drive it to the black market. Better would have been an outright ban in public and a massive increase in tax.

@SerendipityJane Lots of people of different ages have different laws
It's illegal to consent to sex at 15 it's legal at 16
It's illegal to buy alcohol at 17 it's legal at 18
It's illegal to learn to drive age 15 it's legal age 17 (or maybe 18 now)
You can't vote at 16 you can at 18

Ultimately it will stop A LOT of people start smoking who would've done had there not been a ban. Don't focus on the people born in 2010 and 2011, there will obviously be a group of people who will still do it, but ultimately it will save a lot of lives and it totally worth it!

Yes, but once they reach 18 there is no difference for the activities you list - with with cigarettes there will be a life-long difference.