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1. Lauren Weinstein (lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org)'s status on Thursday, 05-Oct-2023 09:33:10 UTC Lauren Weinstein

   As much as I despise cigarettes, the British proposal to increase the legal age for smoking year by year in an attempt to eventually ban them is inane. It will simply create a black market and cause far more damage in the end. This kind of prohibition never works and is beneath stupidity.

   • Justin Derrick (justinderrick@mstdn.ca)'s status on Thursday, 05-Oct-2023 09:33:07 UTC Justin Derrick

     in reply to

     @lauren Do you remember how they got people to start wearing seatbelts in North America? They said “We don’t care if you wear your seatbelt, but your kids have to be strapped in.” It became normalized in less than 20 years.

     If they increased the smoking age by 1 year every 2 years, in 20 years, there won’t be any new smokers anymore, because essentially nobody starts smoking in their late 20’s.

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   • jwz (jwz@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 05-Oct-2023 09:33:25 UTC jwz

     in reply to

     @lauren I agree that outright prohibition is a bad tactic, but apparently this age-gate approach has been arguably successful in NZ, if you define success as "started vaping instead"? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/04/vaping-and-de-nicotinisation-what-uk-can-learn-from-new-zealands-smoking-crackdown

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