This is a bit of a shock to wake up to:
The government is creating the first smokefree generation, by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 14 this year or younger will never be legally sold tobacco products. This will prevent future generations from ever taking up smoking, as there is no safe age to smoke.
Prohibition has always worked so well, hasn’t it? For there will, of course, never be anyone at all who will supply a market even if it be illegal to do so.
This part we think is a masterpiece of illogic:
Major economies such as the USA, Australia and Canada are taking action to tackle sharp increases in youth vaping, and we risk becoming an outlier if we do not keep pace. Learning from other countries and our recent call for evidence, the government is therefore looking at measures to reduce the appeal and availability of vapes to children.
Well, OK, let us learn from Oz. They do have very much stricter rules on vaping than we do. They also have a markedly higher teen smoking rate, one that has been going up as those restrictions upon vaping are enforced. So, let’s learn, let’s not do that then. Except, of course, the insistence here is that we just copy them, not learn from them.
Yes, obviously it’s possible to go on carping at the details here. They still seem to think smoking costs the NHS money when it doesn’t, it saves it. The same is obviously true of the pensions system. This grates: “It is estimated that the total costs of smoking in England are over £17 billion.” for the estimate comes from Action on Smoking and Health, they’re like asking your barber if you need a haircut.
But enough carping and down to basics.
No.
We are all liberals here even if we might be slightly astringent on our economics. Consenting adults get to adult consentingly. This includes ingesting or inhaling fun products as defined as being fun by the person doing the inhaling.
And yes, this is indeed the hill we will die upon. Either we’re all adults who get to live our lives as we wish or we’re children who do not. We vote for being adults which means that bans like this we’ll not be having with.
In short, Prime Minister, Sec of State and Chief Medical Officer, it’s damn all to do with you. So be off with you. It’s not your business so don’t make it so.
Our thanks to Matt Brookes for that headline.