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Prime Minister to create ‘smokefree generation’ by ending cigarette sales to those born on or after 1 January 2009 (www.gov.uk)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
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[–] 18 points 2 years ago (5 children)

It will create a substantial black market, but it won't just do that. It will make it difficult to conveniently buy cigarettes, which will drastically cut down on the number of smokers.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Isn't that what they said about alcohol, marijuana, crack, and every other thing we've tried to outlaw over the years? The strategy doesn't ever seem to work and yet every time it's proposed we get about half of people saying, oh, well this time will be different.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago*

    It's distinctly different in this case: they're just trying to prevent people who are turning smoking age from conveniently being able to buy cigarettes. They're not taking away cigarettes from people who can already buy them, which was not the case for prohibition.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Let's hope so! My main worry is it pushes things underground where you can't really track and regulate anything, which has happened in other prohibition policies.

    I think I'd be more up for it if smoking use was trending in the wrong direction but it's been pretty consistently trending downwards since the 70s. But if it accelerates the decline then that would definitely be a positive.

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