A draft law in the UK to create a "smoke-free generation" by banning smoking for anybody born after 2008 has cleared both houses of parliament. Only the king's signature remains for it to become law.
  • Technically, the new law will raise the legal age requirement in the UK for buying cigarettes, cigars or tobacco, which is currently 18, by one year in every subsequent year, starting on January 1, 2027
  • This will effectively mean that people born on or after January 1, 2009 will never be eligible to buy them
  • Retailers will face financial penalties for selling the products to those not entitled to them
  • The government will also be empowered to impose a new registration system for smoking and vaping products entering the country, seeking to improve oversight
  • The bill will expand the UK’s indoor smoking ban to a series of outdoor public spaces, for instance in children’s playgrounds, outside schools and hospitals
  • Most indoor spaces that are designated smoke-free will become vape-free as well
  • Smoking in designated areas outside pubs and bars and other hospitality settings will remain permissible
  • Smoking and vaping will remain legal in people’s homes
  • Vaping will become illegal in cars if someone under the age of 18 is inside, to match existing rules on smoking
  • Advertising for smoking and vaping products will be banned
  • People aged 18 or older will remain eligible to purchase vaping products, but some items targeted at younger consumers like disposable vapes have already been outlawed as part of the program
  • horse@feddit.orgEnglish
    131·
    15 hours ago

    I started smoking when I was 14. Smoked a pack a day for a while, smoked my last in my thirties.

    The point of a rolling ban isn’t meant to make you quit, it’s to stop people from starting and it will work. Not for everyone, but for a lot of people it will.

    • GreenBottles@lemmy.worldEnglish
      68·
      13 hours ago

      Its taking away personal freedoms and works against a free market. Keep the government out of your personal choices.

      • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        3 hours ago

        If the free market is so great where are the free market roads, or the free market fire fighters, or the free market court systems, or the free market affordable health care?

        • GreenBottles@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          3 hours ago

          … okay… so let’s mix in local government, taxes, and legal systems?

          I don’t even know what to say

          • freedom@lemy.lolEnglish
            1·
            9 minutes ago

            Your take is very absolutist. If you’ve never smoked a cigarette, you might not realize how powerful the pull is. It’s not a normal craving. It takes over every free thought when it hits. It changes your brain in specific areas identifiable on brain scans. This shit is sugar coated poison.

      • zalgotext@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        6·
        12 hours ago

        Where’s your line between “keeping the government out of your personal choices” vs. “regulations that keep us safe”? Like, I’m sure you’re ok with regulations that keep poisons like lead, arsenic, etc. out of consumable goods, right?

        I kinda agree with the other commenter that said all drugs should be legalized, but also, I’ve had close personal experiences with how addictive and harmful nicotine is, so I can also understand why it would be the target of bans.

          • zalgotext@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            3 hours ago

            Mkay but food isn’t a utility, and neither are cigarettes/cigars/vapes/etc, so I don’t really understand what you’re getting at here

              • freedom@lemy.lolEnglish
                1·
                8 minutes ago

                My right to swing my bat ends at your face. There is an interface where personal freedoms need to be restricted unless you don’t mind living in fear 24/7.