UK Set to Impose Tobacco Sales Ban, 14-Year-Olds Will Legally Be Unable to Purchase Cigarettes
MPs appreciated the decision to implement Rishi Sunak ‘s flagship, which was implemented on Tuesday in the House of Commons. Under the proposed smoking ban, children under the age of 14 are not allowed to buy cigarettes.
If the same is true in England, the strictest smoking laws will be implemented in the country, among all other countries. Here’s a guide on how the suggested ban will work and how much it would be feasible. This ban will be implemented on all persons born after 1 January 2009.
A legal age would be raised for buying tobacco in England till the time it applies to the whole population.14-year-old children will not be able to purchase cigarettes or tobacco legally; they will be a smoke-free generation.
It was told at the annual Tory party conference last year. Furthermore, smoking will not be criminalized, which means those who can legally buy cigarettes or tobacco will not be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, older people must buy their ID cards to buy cigarettes.
According to Jamie Brown, who is a professor of behavioral science at the UCL College of London, an increase in the age of legally buying smoking from 16 to 18 in the UK can help to reduce smoking prevalence.
He further said it provides an excellent reason to have a similar impact and that this ban will be known as creeping prohibition and will not show results. Among the children under the age of 14 who want to smoke, they will buy tobacco from abroad.
Before this ban, New Zealand passed a similar ban, but the government repealed it before its implementation. According to Mr. Sunak New Zealand, the U-turn would not change once it makes up its mind.12.9% of the youngsters in the UK among 6.4 million people were smokers present in 2022, but based on the ONS population, 21% of youngsters in the UK are in the t allowed to buy cigarettes due to the implementation of the ban.
It is assumed that in 2035, the age of sales will exceed 30%. In 2044, it would be 40%, and in 2053, it would reach 50%.
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are independent in setting smoking laws. According to Scotland’s public health minister, strict tobacco rules will receive strong support, and this decision will affect Scotland’s upcoming plan regarding tobacco action.
The main aim of the implementation of the ban among those below 14 years old is to prevent them from starting smoking in the first place because most smokers start smoking before the age of 20. Starting smoking before 20 not only often struggles with addiction for the rest of their life but also leads a cause of preventable deaths in the UK. Due to smoking, people suffer cancer-related deaths, which cause 64,000 deaths per year, according to the investigation of Dr. Javed Khan’s review. It has been observed that in 2075, these plans could exceed 1.7 million.
