Friday 19 April 2024

Smoking and Vaping - Just say no!

It's gone through the House of Commons with some controversy, new measures that would see fifteen year olds no longer able to get old enough to smoke as year on year the age limits would rise so no one would be able start smoking.

Presently you have to be eighteen in the UK to buy cigarettes although there is no legal age limit for smoking them which itself was raised from 16 some years ago.

The problem area as I can see is really more around storeholders knowing with that straight off who they can sell too as trading standards could prosecute as it is harder by appearance age and age based ID is not common place although the idea of a smoke free generation  isn't something I disagree with.

Indeed I can remember quite vividly at fifteen being told by the oldest girl of our form and a prefect upon being found hanging out with the school smokers, that if she found me smoking, she'd have no quarms about spanking me as she wasn't prepared to let me get addicted and ruin my health.

In the same bill bill are measures to reduce the marketing of Vapes, especially single use ones to teens with bright packaging and sweet flavours where we have a major addiction problem with children desperate to get out of lessons for their Vape and already some serious incidents of childrens health being ruined.

Vaping appears to have a number of long term issues as more research is showing even if it may play a part in getting existing smokers off cigarettes.

We really do need to act on this.

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