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Prime Minister to create ‘smokefree generation’ by ending cigarette sales to those born on or after 1 January 2009

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-to-create-smokefree-generation-by-ending-cigarette-sales-to-those-born-on-or-after-1-january-2009

Government to introduce historic new law to protect future generations of young people from the harms of smoking.

Prime Minister to create ‘smokefree generation’ by ending cigarette sales to those born on or after 1 January 2009

25 comments

bedbeard

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I am definitely not pro-smoking but won't this just create a pretty substantial black market?

ledtasso

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It will create a substantial black market, but it won't just do that. It will make it difficult to conveniently buy cigarettes, which will drastically cut down on the number of smokers.

krashmo

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Isn't that what they said about alcohol, marijuana, crack, and every other thing we've tried to outlaw over the years? The strategy doesn't ever seem to work and yet every time it's proposed we get about half of people saying, oh, well this time will be different.

ledtasso

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It's distinctly different in this case: they're just trying to prevent people who are turning smoking age from conveniently being able to buy cigarettes. They're not taking away cigarettes from people who can already buy them, which was not the case for prohibition.

GuinnessChocolates

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Presumably vaping will still be legal.

bedbeard

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Let's hope so! My main worry is it pushes things underground where you can't really track and regulate anything, which has happened in other prohibition policies.

I think I'd be more up for it if smoking use was trending in the wrong direction but it's been pretty consistently trending downwards since the 70s. But if it accelerates the decline then that would definitely be a positive.

davepleasebehave

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it's harder to smuggle loads of cigarettes because of the size of each bundle.

perhaps people will smuggle in powdered nicotine and make vape juice for cheap.

cynar

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It depends if it's a ban on just cigarettes or nicotine in general. Ban a drug, and you'll create a black market for it. Ban a method of administering a drug, and you can move it to other safer or more socially acceptable methods of application.

I personally hate smoking. However, as far as I am concerned, it's down to the individual, so long as they are not affecting me, and covering the excess social costs (via taxes).

Unfortunately, most/many of the cigarette smokers I encounter are of the inconsiderate type. A single smoker can cover a large area in smoke, and most don't either notice or care. I have yet to see a viable method of stopping this, other than banning cigarettes.

GCostanzaStepOnMe

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Actually, any law is useless, because of criminals.

mannycalavera

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God damnit! I actually support this. Fuck.

It'll never happen, but there you go.

DJDarren

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Heartbreaking.

mannycalavera

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🤣

Lifebandit666

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I'm sure Kids from a certain social background will still be able to do it.

I'm talking about the kids in Sunaks class, that I'm sure will still be smoking Stogies and sipping Whisky together at Davos or Bohemian Grove when they're older.

Mex

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Because prohibition always goes well.

ImNotADolphin

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I can’t decide wether I like this, on one hand smoking is obviously bad, but on the other I wouldn’t want to be unable to if I wanted to. I think it would be better to make sure the public are educated on the subject so that people can make informed decisions for themselves rather than an outright ban on sale.

Twiglet

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If it only affected the user, sure, but the reality of it is that the smoke contaminates everything around it.

I was in my 20's when I realised it's not normal to mop your walls every year, also made the connection that moving out reduced my migraines. I did not realise just how much I stank everywhere I went thanks to my mum's smoking, and coming back off holiday from smoke free relatives I felt my throat and eyes burn as I was settling back in at home.

My neighbours a few doors down sometimes smoke in the garden when the weather is nice, so I have to shut all my windows and retreat indoors if I want to keep breathing freely.

It's a lot better than it used to be, but it still restricts my comfort and quality of life if someone nearby decides they have the individual right to smoke.

peter

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I think people are idiots and need to be protected from themselves in some circumstances.

ImNotADolphin

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Realistically though this sort of thing isn’t going to stop that, it will just push it underground leading to it being unregulated.

peter

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You could argue that about any law. The majority of people aren't going to start smoking if its not easily available to them

ImNotADolphin

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That assumes that this idea would actually work. I doubt that it will actually be challenging to get hold of cigarettes after this goes into place, there will almost certainly be a lot of shops that will still sell them to people who are under the minimum age. For it to work properly I think there would have to be a lot of money spent on enforcing it. Alternatively though, one could argue that even that is better than not having any measures put in place.

krashmo

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Is there anyone left who doesn't already know that smoking is bad for you? Prohibition is dumb and doesn't work but it seems there isn't much left to be done in the education department. I think it's time we just let people make their own decisions and shut up about it. There's plenty of other perfectly legal things that people fuck up their health with. I'm not sure why we talk so much about this particular thing.

ImNotADolphin

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I mostly agree, but I would still appreciate more education, maybe more in areas like second hand smoke, so that smokers don’t impact everyone else with their decisions.

Mchugho

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Permanently Deleted

Lifebandit666

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Barbeques are fine but spark up a cigarette in the garden and you have to worry about who's health you're harming? Daft.

Mchugho

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Permanently Deleted

peter

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You can tell they're panicking because they're actually doing something that benefits people. I hope they ban disposable vapes too

AllNewTypeFace

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I think this idea has merit, though I would stop short of extending the War On Drugs to criminalise possession or use of tobacco.