Smoking: A beginning to the end?

Hi guys!

I read that (here: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080531/tuk-tough-cigarette-controls-considered-6323e80.html )  the department of health is considering some ideas called “The Future of Tobacco control”. They hope to cut down smoking and make it less accessible to the younger generations in the hope that they don’t pick up the habit.

The proposals include removing branding and logos from all tobacco packaging and having a minimum pack size of 20 to stop young people who can only afford packs of 10 from buying cigarettes.

Other measures include restricting the display of tobacco products by placing them under shop counters, banning cigarette vending machines or restricting them to adults only

Athough good in theory there are clear ways teenagers are able to overcome these problems, for example if they cannot afford 20 packs they can simply “half in” with the cost of a 20 pack and two friends could buy a pack of 20 and share them. I also have a concern about keeping cigarettes under the counter out of view of the customer because if you stood in a queue for 10 minutes and found out they did’nt have your brand (or indeed cigarettes at all!) you will have wasted your time (which could in turn cause aggrivation with a lot of customers) - then again a benefit is that a shop could tell under age customers simply that they’re out of stock of cigarettes – avoiding arguements. Also I agree that cigarette machines should be restricted to over 18.

This is only half the picture, and who knows where these ideas will take us, were increasingly moving toward a “non smoking” world and as a non smoker with smokers in my family I can’t wait for smoking to become more restricted (or banned altogether!)