I imagine some addicts would continue to buy from the black market but most people probably will stop once the convenience of e.g getting it from the grocers no longer exists. Not to mention it would make it harder to become addicted to begin with.

In universal healthcare countries the one's smoking are basically abusing the system as there is a very high chance they end up with some kind or respiratory or hearth issues sooner or later. Such illnesses are very costly to treat hence they are taking away from others. Contrary to let's say alcohol that most people consume but also majority is not alcoholic. Smokers are almost always junkies and they have issues quitting fags. Smoking is extremely addicting.

This policy suggestion differs from other prohibitions slightly, due to the mechanisms of addiction, and the existance of alternative nicotine delivery.

In the first factor, there is a prime age range during which addiction likelyhood is highest: ages 10 to 20. Beyond this range, succeptibility to addiction falls. By reducing the likelyhood of people in that range to encounter tobacco products, we can meaningfully reduce overall nicotine addiction inthe population.

The second factor is the existance of safer alternative nicotine delivery mechanisms. For those already addicted, more targeted mechanisms such as gum, patches, and even vaping can represent a reduced-harm alternetive to smoking.

Also, black market ciggarettes probably will be just as safe as they are now, since they will most likely be commercially produced for other countries and smuggled in. Its not like RJ Reynolds will start cutting Camels with coca leaves just cause they can't sell to 25 year olds.

I'd say no cause it is on the recommendation of doctors and researchers within the country to him and it's actually something that will affect people in a positive way supposedly. Now I think he made cuts to healthcare so in that regard yeah it is a little bit of virtue signalling but it's virtue signalling in a functional way that actually impacts things. Which I think is okay for him to do.

It commissioned a review, published last June and led by Dr Javed Khan, which made a series of recommendations, including increasing the legal age for buying tobacco.

He recommended that the age of sale should increase from 18, by one year every year, until no-one can buy a tobacco product.

Cancer Research UK's chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: "Raising the age of sale on tobacco products is a critical step on the road to creating the first ever smoke-free generation."

But Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest, said: "Raising the age of sale of tobacco is creeping prohibition, but it won't stop young people smoking because prohibition doesn't work.

I don't get it. I'm not in the UK but having read this article on other communities I was very surprised to see so many people support banning smoking.

Yeah it's not healthy but a lot of things aren't. Drinking, fast food, soda, etc etc. Are you gonna go banning all that too? Believe it or not a lot of people are aware of the health effects and made a choice to continue doing so. I think effort would be better spent helping those quit who want to.