A draft law in the UK to create a "smoke-free generation" by banning smoking for anybody born after 2008 has cleared both houses of parliament. Only the king's signature remains for it to become law.
  • Technically, the new law will raise the legal age requirement in the UK for buying cigarettes, cigars or tobacco, which is currently 18, by one year in every subsequent year, starting on January 1, 2027
  • This will effectively mean that people born on or after January 1, 2009 will never be eligible to buy them
  • Retailers will face financial penalties for selling the products to those not entitled to them
  • The government will also be empowered to impose a new registration system for smoking and vaping products entering the country, seeking to improve oversight
  • The bill will expand the UK’s indoor smoking ban to a series of outdoor public spaces, for instance in children’s playgrounds, outside schools and hospitals
  • Most indoor spaces that are designated smoke-free will become vape-free as well
  • Smoking in designated areas outside pubs and bars and other hospitality settings will remain permissible
  • Smoking and vaping will remain legal in people’s homes
  • Vaping will become illegal in cars if someone under the age of 18 is inside, to match existing rules on smoking
  • Advertising for smoking and vaping products will be banned
  • People aged 18 or older will remain eligible to purchase vaping products, but some items targeted at younger consumers like disposable vapes have already been outlawed as part of the program
  • smh@slrpnk.netEnglish
    81·
    4 days ago

    I’m not sure about banning smoking outside of hospitals. The hospital near me doesn’t allow smoking by the entrances but has a designated smoking zone.

    I’m not a smoker, but I’m thinking of when my grandma was dealing with my grandpa in the intensive care unit. She was already stressed to the gills with family and husband stress. I wouldn’t want her to have to deal with nicotine withdrawal, too (or finding alternative methods of nicotine use).

    On the other hand, there was an asshole smoking right at the hospital entrance last time I was there. Screw that guy.

    Grandpa was in the hospital for emphysema due to a lifetime of smoking. He left the hospital and quit smoking. I don’t think Grandma ever quit, even with full-on dementia. So, mixed feelings about old folks smoking near hospitals.

      • smh@slrpnk.netEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        Please explain this article from 2018 .

        Wales is to become the first country in the UK to ban smoking in outdoor school spaces, playgrounds and hospital grounds.

        Yes, most UK hospitals do ban smoking on their grounds, but not all, and the ban is by the hospital, not at the country level.

        • GMac@feddit.orgEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          Turns out you are right. Formalisation of that ban as an offence was much later than I thought. https://www.gov.scot/policies/smoking/smoking-around-hospital-buildings/ gives some dates and context for Scotland to add to your Wales info.

          That said, the practical difference between a policy ban vs a legal offence is mostly an enforcement question. In all practical terms on private property a policy ban is still a ban.

          To my own personal experience, policy bans across the whole UK (having lived in several cities over the past 20 years and visited more hospitals than I’d care to) have been a consistent thing. Though I won’t dispute there will always be arseholes like the one you encountered just being arseholes…

      • smh@slrpnk.netEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago

        No matter how much time passes, my grandmother will never have been born after 2008 [edit: and so will be allowed to buy cigarettes].

      • Dasus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        Out of literally any people ever, anywhere, how many do you think waited until they were 18-21 to start smoking? And how many do you think started when it was literally illegal for them to buy cigarettes?