Logical step or overreach? Guardian readers share their thoughts on Sunak’s smoking ban

DDozens of people have shared with the Guardian their thoughts on Rishi Sunak’s Tobacco and Vaping Bill, which aims to create Britain’s first smoke-free generation. The proposed legislation would not completely ban smoking, but would ensure that anyone born after January 1, 2009 would no longer be allowed to buy cigarettes.

Around half of respondents said they were in favor of the proposed ban, at least in principle, mainly because of the pressure smoking puts on the NHS. However, many of them questioned its enforceability and whether there would be any unwanted consequences.

Dozens of people said they believed a smoking ban would not deter young people from wanting to buy cigarettes, while many others worried that criminalizing smoking could disproportionately affect vulnerable groups.

Several current and former smokers said they supported the ban and wished it had been implemented sooner, while dozens of others described the ban as authoritarian government overreach and questioned why smoking was singled out among other harmful activities, such as driving polluting cars. or consuming sugar and alcohol.

Many people said they agreed that people should smoke less, but emphasized that they would prefer less draconian measures, such as a higher age limit for legal access to tobacco, or better education about the harmful effects of smoking, to a total ban.

‘The high costs of treating smokers affect us all’

“As an ex-smoker, I fully support the ban. It is good that the commercial opportunities for the tobacco companies are weighed against the rising costs of treating smoking-related diseases, paid for by government taxes on everyone and not just smokers. I had quit smoking when the indoor smoking ban came into effect, and I wished it had been proposed twenty years earlier.

“My children can’t understand what life was like in the 80s and 90s, when they went to clubs and bars full of smoke. I don’t think this ban will make everyone stop smoking, but it will go a long way toward reducing it.”
Scott, 60, from Leeds

‘Vulnerable people will simply turn to drug dealers’

“While I like the idea of ​​people not being allowed to smoke, I believe this is completely unenforceable and will create a black market.

“People will smoke if they want to and this will mean that people will (illegally) sell cigarettes to people. These are probably the same people who deal in harder drugs, which means that potentially vulnerable people are exposed to harder drugs more often and create more problems.”
David Taylor, 54, from Preston

‘I fear that this ban will hit minority groups the hardest’

“While the strategy is not bad, if we ban smoking, we should also ban fried chicken, sugar and cars. We now have other, greater health threats than smoking – for example, exposure to chemicals, pollution and poor nutrition, leading to chronic diseases such as diabetes.

“It is a pointless law, as you can still buy cigarettes abroad. My concern is how this law can be enforced in a fair and consistent manner. I fear it will be used to further persecute minority groups who, compared to others, may not be able to get away with breaking this law.”
Janis, 32, works in HR at a hospital in London

‘Just raise the age limit for access to nicotine’

“It is a desperate attempt by Sunak to commit to something, anything, before his election defeat. A smoking ban didn’t work out well for Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand has already scrapped its smoking ban). Smoking is bad, but so are many other things that are perfectly legal. I don’t agree with the ban, but the minimum age should be higher for all nicotine products. At 21, people are less likely to try simply because others are doing so.

“Banning things doesn’t stop people from getting them. It simply puts that money outside the tax brackets into criminal enterprises. Since tax revenues from tobacco are extremely high, this will have a significant impact on the country’s finances in the long term.”
John, 40, account manager from Wales

‘A ban will prevent many from ever starting’

“I wholeheartedly support it. I started smoking young and it has had a huge negative impact on my life and health. As a teenager it was just too easy to get cigarettes.

“A concern is that imported cigarettes on the black market are often even more dangerous, but a ban will still help a large number of people and deter many from ever starting.”
Ted, 42, from Wolverhampton

‘This ban is again an anti-nightlife policy’

“I’m a liberal and I’m against this kind of thing. Adults should be able to smoke tobacco if they want, just as they should be able to drink alcohol. If we want to make this country increasingly boring and puritanical, we are moving in the right direction with our broader war on nightlife.”
Alex, 23, Shrewsbury councilor

‘Britain is becoming a nanny state’

“I do not agree with it. I believe that people should have a choice and that, if people are informed, it should be up to them how they want to live their lives. I’m overweight and that’s causing more problems for the NHS, so let’s ditch chocolate – is that next? I look at America in the 1920s and Prohibition – it didn’t work. Raise the age to 25, but don’t ban it. We are still individuals, aren’t we, and are allowed to make choices?

(I’m concerned about) Britain becoming a nanny state. The NHS shouldn’t dictate how we live our lives, they should just keep us informed. I am very annoyed that the British government thinks they have the power to introduce something that will affect people in the future when they will all be dead and gone.”
Lorraine, in her fifties, from Warrington

‘A total ban is the only way’

“A smoking ban is too late. As a non-smoker, I am constantly bothered by the chain smoking habits of people around me: my parents, my husband and colleagues. I find that vaping affects my lungs even more than traditional tobacco. In the morning I walk to work in the company of teenagers who, despite current restrictions, vape all the way up to high school. A total ban is the only way to save those children and prevent the NHS from collapsing.”
Jo Jones, 45, administrative assistant and carer from Wales

‘I like a fag every now and then – smoking isn’t all bad’

“I have very mixed feelings. I don’t want my children to smoke and the idea of ​​no one smoking is attractive for health, the environment and generally living in a better, cleaner world… But it is a very illiberal approach. I smoke occasionally, I like the occasional fag with a beer, a cigar on a special occasion and even the occasional pipe. Smoking is not all bad.”
Guy Weston, 43, advertising agency owner from Ilkley

‘I would have liked to experience a life without smoke’

“My father smoked during my mother’s pregnancy and during my childhood. On every car ride, every Saturday evening on the couch, at every restaurant table, in every hotel room. When I started smoking at 15, I felt like I had been smoking since birth. For me it was completely normalized.

“Yet the horror on his face haunts him when he saw me smoking for the first time. He was incredibly furious. After 25 years of chain smoking myself, I could tell his anger wasn’t directed at me. He was angry with himself.

“I’ll never know how different my life would have been without cigarettes, but I would have liked the chance to find out. Smoking has kept me poor and ashamed for so long. I’m finally vaping and haven’t smoked in two years. I’m not religious, but I think nicotine is the devil’s work.”
Daniel, 42, a moviemaker from Nottingham