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"Smoking age increased to 18"

The Sun

THE legal age for buying tobacco is to be raised from 16 to 18, the Government announced.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said the new law would come into effect from October 1, with the current one dating back to 1908.

Government statistics show that 9% of young people aged between 11 and 15 smoke - down from 13% in 1996.

With tobacco and alcohol illegal for under-18s, retailers should further be helped to comply with the law, the Department of Health said.

England and Wales will now move into line with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US.

The Government launched a public consultation in July on whether the limit should be raised to 17 or 18 or left as it is.

Ms Flint said: "Smoking is dangerous at any age, but the younger people start, the more likely they are to become life-long smokers and to die early."

"Someone who starts smoking aged 15 is three times more likely to die of cancer due to smoking than someone who starts in their late 20s."

The Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England Survey 2004, revealed that 70% of 11 to 15-year-old smokers buy their cigarettes from small shops such as newsagents.

While the NHS spends around 1.7 billion each year on treating smoking-related diseases. According to ASH, tobacco taxation amounts to 10.5 billion per year.

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Comments anyone? Do you think this will help cut the number of underage smokers? Do we have any smokers here? At what age did you pick up the habit?

Machie wrote;
> Perhaps they should consider raising the lottery limit to 18 as well =)

You are now off my "People to give money to if I become a millionnaire" however all of my other Freeola pals are still on the list :D

Whoever said the lottery comment deserves to be bitchslapped then thrown off a bridge. Euromillions ftw.

"Sexy Lexy" you are only gonna get a thousand...

Yeah to me that's nothing....

*bitchslaps sunny* :D

Alfonse wrote:
> *bitchslaps sunny* :D

*Kicks Alex*

Let's be honest, smoking for most people is all about the image, it's why they start in the first place - the peer pressure to do it, or as Hannah Barbera would have it.. the cigarettes in their old cartoons =c/

Yeah, well, anyway.. increasing the age limit is surely gonna make the people who think smoking is 'cool' because it's 'risk-ay' think it's all the more 'cool'.

Anyone that could legally smoke at 16, and who readily took up the opportunity.. how's the government planning to cover this group of 16 & 17 year olds who now legally aren't able to smoke, I mean, surely some quitting smoking scheme would have to be introduced, specifically aimed at them.

Kids under the age of 16 who choose to smoke steal them from their parents anyway, or buy 'em from the type of characters who drive from playground to playground to sell 15grams of Jamaicas finest from the back of a white van. Either way, under aged smoking will continue, as does under-aged drinking.

In terms of statistics, people under the age of 18 who could previously smoke will now not be able to, upping the number of illegal smokers.

tnc wrote:
> Let's be honest, smoking for most people is all about the image,
> it's why they start in the first place
*Thinks about taking up smoking*
> more 'cool'
*Lights a cigarette*

...

*Burns Alfonse with it*
Mwahahaha!

I certainly think it makes it easier for those retailers selling cigarettes to consider whether someone is under age or not. 18 is probably easier to tell.

In one way it won't affect those who smoke illegally, as they'll try to keep doing it, but in another way it will as they'll find it harder to get the smokes. They'd be less 18 year olds willing to supply others with them, than 16 year olds (well, you'd hope that some of them would be wiser with their 2 years extra maturity, though it's not always the case).

How many of these young smokers realise they made a mistake when they get older, do you think? It would be interesting to find out if over 50% of them wished they'd never started after a few years...

Believe me if they really want to smoke they will. They'll wait outside and just wait for someone who looks older to buy them for them. Usually a drunk going to buy more alcohol. Same goes for alcohol.

I think they should do the same as with booze where if you look under 21 you'll be ID'd.

However I don't think it'll work as there will always be someone willing to buy for under age smokers. Quite a few people I went to school with had their parents buy them cigarettes!