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OP posts:
Terrribletwos · 21/04/2026 21:35

Pldafa · 21/04/2026 21:31

I don’t really care what other people put in their bodies, but I was in the street today and got a face full of smoke. So it’s not just their bodies they’re putting it in.

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I am not convinced vapes are less harmful tbh

GeneralPeter · 21/04/2026 21:35

Pldafa · 21/04/2026 21:31

I don’t really care what other people put in their bodies, but I was in the street today and got a face full of smoke. So it’s not just their bodies they’re putting it in.

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Yes that is a legitimate point. It applies to alcohol, noise, and many other things too which we don’t ban.

If the ban were on everyone I’d be a lot less suspicious. But it’s a ban, realistically, only on other people. Those making the rules are not the group subject to it.

AnotherName2025 · 21/04/2026 21:36

BuffetTheDietSlayer · 21/04/2026 21:09

It really doesn’t sit right with me that a person can be forever banned from buying a product that is sold legally, simply because of their date of birth.

I HATE smoking with a passion (vapes too) but I don't agree with this ban. Ban it for all or no one. Different rules for different age adults is unworkable. Especially in 10 years time when it will cause big issues asking what year were you born?

Terrribletwos · 21/04/2026 21:36

I am not convinced vapes are less harmful tbh.

tarheelbaby · 21/04/2026 21:36

I think outlawing it so that 90% follow that rule which then decreases the overall activity. Murder is banned. It still happens but (somewhat) less than if it were not prohibited ... Most people decide for themselves that murder is not worth it ...

In principle, I totally agree that smoking/vaping is bad. Lungs were designed to breath air - nothing more, nothing less. Anything else is harmful to them.

Smokers/vapers have proven that they can choose their time/location so should be able not to indulge inside a car just as they can currently wait until they're outside a building.
BUT
Having spent a lot of time with teens, how can this possibly be enforced for the coming teens? Even the current restriction '18+ only' is impossible to enforce.
(Alcohol/bad food is a personal choice and does not affect the immediate vicinity: if someone is drinking, it does not make me drunk but if someone is smoking/vaping, I have to breathe that too, especially in an enclosed space.)

seazon · 21/04/2026 21:37

SpottyAlpaca · 21/04/2026 21:33

Good. Long overdue.

Next job : Serious sugar & junk food taxes. The government should announce that the tax on UPF should increase & escalate year on year until after a decade, a large bar of chocolate (or its equivalent in terms of sugar & fat) costs the same as a bottle of whisky.

Sounds radical, but it worked for tobacco and obesity is just as much of a public health crisis as smoking ever was.

You utter killjoy, nosey parker.

rockstarshoes · 21/04/2026 21:38

Well if buying vapes when you’re under 18 now is illegal & yet 13/14 year olds are still getting their hands on them how is this even going to work?

xanthomelana · 21/04/2026 21:38

CraftyNavySeal · 21/04/2026 21:26

Current law is fine.

Adults should be free to do as they choose and deal with the consequences. Otherwise what next? Check your BMI if you want to buy chocolate?

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Exactly. Why stop at tobacco when there’s other things that are no good for our health. Where do you draw the line?

YeahNoCoolCrap · 21/04/2026 21:38

It will just take its place alongside other illegally sold substances, and since the ban is on selling, not possessing or consuming, it won't actually stop young people smoking if they want to.

Terrribletwos · 21/04/2026 21:41

rockstarshoes · 21/04/2026 21:38

Well if buying vapes when you’re under 18 now is illegal & yet 13/14 year olds are still getting their hands on them how is this even going to work?

Well, exactly it would need enforcement officers going round every vape shop etc. So that's not going to happen...so

Terrribletwos · 21/04/2026 21:43

YeahNoCoolCrap · 21/04/2026 21:38

It will just take its place alongside other illegally sold substances, and since the ban is on selling, not possessing or consuming, it won't actually stop young people smoking if they want to.

And they can get it illegally anyway

TempNameForObviousReasons · 21/04/2026 21:44

The government should not be allowed to dictate to people willy nilly. Very dangerous precedent set here and nothing to celebrate in my opinion. (I am a non-smoker who hates everything to do with the habit)

Dalmationday · 21/04/2026 21:45

CraftyNavySeal · 21/04/2026 21:26

Current law is fine.

Adults should be free to do as they choose and deal with the consequences. Otherwise what next? Check your BMI if you want to buy chocolate?

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The adult doesn’t deal with the consequence of smoking, the nhs and taxpayer does

Suchardchoccy · 21/04/2026 21:46

Pldafa · 21/04/2026 21:31

I don’t really care what other people put in their bodies, but I was in the street today and got a face full of smoke. So it’s not just their bodies they’re putting it in.

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Exactly!!

GeneralPeter · 21/04/2026 21:47

Dalmationday · 21/04/2026 21:45

The adult doesn’t deal with the consequence of smoking, the nhs and taxpayer does

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That’s largely true (of smoking). Would you ban alcohol?

Original poster
JessLou80 · 21/04/2026 21:52

GeneralPeter · 21/04/2026 21:30

I disagree. We as society need to set thresholds in what we ban. They shouldn’t be arbitrary or taste-based.

Vapes are hugely less harmful than cigarettes (royal college of physicians says 5% of the harm of smoking).

They are hugely less harmful than alcohol.

The argument on this thread seems to be that they are “vile”, “gross”, “wouldn’t put it my body”.

Plenty of people enjoy putting things in their body that I would put in mine. Plenty of people enjoy things I find gross. We can’t ban on those grounds if we want to live in a liberal democracy.

And applying the ban only to some citizens, not because they are at greater harm (it’s a cohort, not an age group) but because they aren’t going to make a fuss about it, is wrong too.

I don’t think the ban is arbitrary or taste based. Smoking and vaping affects other people’s health not just those that are smoking

OP posts:
Original poster
JessLou80 · 21/04/2026 21:53

Pldafa · 21/04/2026 21:31

I don’t really care what other people put in their bodies, but I was in the street today and got a face full of smoke. So it’s not just their bodies they’re putting it in.

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@pldafayeah absolutely this - this is just the height of rudeness! I don’t want other people disgusting smoke in my lungs!

OP posts:
Terrribletwos · 21/04/2026 21:54

TempNameForObviousReasons · 21/04/2026 21:44

The government should not be allowed to dictate to people willy nilly. Very dangerous precedent set here and nothing to celebrate in my opinion. (I am a non-smoker who hates everything to do with the habit)

True, I agree. But there's loads of vape shops with little regulation and selling to underage.
Just have vapes in super markets,where's there's loads of regulation.

Dalmationday · 21/04/2026 21:54

GeneralPeter · 21/04/2026 21:47

That’s largely true (of smoking). Would you ban alcohol?

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I would be tempted to. If it was invented or discovered today, it would never be legal. It’s because of its history/ legacy that it would be so so hard to ban. A bit like people suggesting an outright smoking ban. Once people are hooked the banning would be like plugging water in the titanic. I can see why the smoking ban only works for a new generation.

alcohol would have to be the same for it to be an effective ban is my thinking

herbalteabag · 21/04/2026 21:56

There will come a time when they are having to ID 40/50 year olds to see if they were born after 2008 and that will be quite weird.

CraftyNavySeal · 21/04/2026 21:57

Dalmationday · 21/04/2026 21:45

The adult doesn’t deal with the consequence of smoking, the nhs and taxpayer does

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Should people be forced to live their lives for what is most convenient for tax payers and the NHS though?

I would happily accept that the government butts out of my life in exchange for the NHS not treating problems that I have caused myself.

tripleginandtonic · 21/04/2026 21:59

BuffetTheDietSlayer · 21/04/2026 21:09

It really doesn’t sit right with me that a person can be forever banned from buying a product that is sold legally, simply because of their date of birth.

This.

Original poster
JessLou80 · 21/04/2026 22:03

Terrribletwos · 21/04/2026 21:36

I am not convinced vapes are less harmful tbh.

Same -just as dangerous IMO

OP posts:
likelysuspect · 21/04/2026 22:09

EvilNextDoor · 21/04/2026 19:53

I wonder where they are going to tax us instead…the revenue smoking brings in is quite high from
memory..

Fantastic news tho

Well it is a fact that smoking declined, so did the tax take and obesity levels soared

Im a vehement anti smoker and hate the vapes too but you cant get away from those facts. Are they causal? Not sure.

YeahNoCoolCrap · 21/04/2026 22:11

herbalteabag · 21/04/2026 21:56

There will come a time when they are having to ID 40/50 year olds to see if they were born after 2008 and that will be quite weird.

I imagine the idea is that by then, smoking will be some kind of rare and arcane habit and people will have to get tobacco from specialist shops, if 'shops' as we know them even still exist.

Thankfully I'll be dead by then 😊