Plan to raise smoking age to 21 to be unveiled amid UK government splits

25 comments
  1. There’s at least one country (Australia?) that is raising the age by one year every year. Basically, no-one born after 2000 or so can ever buy ciggies.

  2. 18, old enough to be tried as an adult, old enough to be left homeless, old enough to die in the army, old enough to enter contracts, to borrow money, to be made bankrupt. But not old enough to smoke.

  3. …which will do absolutely nothing to stop people smoking under that age if they wish to do so, as usual

  4. I don’t like this. Not only because once you’re an adult you should have the final say over your own body, mistakes and all, but also because I fear it will turn into a slippery slope, with other things such as alcohol eventually being raised to 21 and higher as well. And in the future I could definitely see those ages rising even higher in the guise of public safety.

  5. Smoking or NHS pick one, the tax raised from tobacco clearly isn’t being funnelled to the NHS and smokers still have to be treated.

    I can see smokers (along with the red meat eaters, binge drinkers and sugar junkies) being used as another reason to privatise the NHS.

  6. Good. Anything that makes it more difficult to make people smoke/smart smoking the better. The whole ‘herp derp itll shift people to black market cigs’ is nonsense.

  7. 18 is more than enough, off all the things you can’t do at that age which isn’t a lot. Smoking should definitely not be one. This law currently works well in the uk

  8. I’m amazed at how little I can predict the general consensus on posts in this sub. I thought you lot would be all over government control for greater health benefits. But apparently this time it’s overreach

  9. Im not sure moving the age to 21 is going to have much impact.

    Leave it at 18, and keep educating youngsters about the dangers of smoking.

  10. I’m kinda torn on this tbh. I’m big of people having the ability to choose, but smoking is a pretty nasty addiction with very few (if any?) benefits.

    I can also see this being used an an exuse to further crack down on weed.

  11. Really? We’re gonna to start using the american model? It won’t do much beyond piss people off. May as well raise everything to 21.

  12. I took up smoking when I was 15, and you had to be 16 to buy Cigarettes then

    Then when I was 17, legislation pushed the age requirement to 18

    Feeling for the 18-21 year olds who are now gonna find it’s illegal for them again.

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