A Last Puff?

Tobacco smoking is still the greatest cause of avoidable disease and death in UK. People are consequently especially concerned to stop young folk acquiring the habit. The English seem likely to go for the New Zealand approach to reducing tobacco smoking in young adults. A UK government review advocates annually increasing the age at which one can legally buy cigarettes, by one year, from 18 years of age (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/09/smoking-age-england-should-rise-year-each-year-government-review-says). This approach differs from the more common alternative where the age at which cigarettes can be purchased, is raised from 18 to 21 years of age. If adopted, nobody in England will be eventually (after several decades) able to legally buy cigarettes. This UK government report strongly suggests encouraging vaping to 'fill the gap' (and helping wean people off using cigarettes). Although this could mollify the tobacco companies, vaping products contain a lot of nicotine. There are also issues with the development of illegal vaping products, designed for children. Vaping 'tricks' on TikTok are apparently all the rage!