Mamdani Is Just the Start, Brace Yourselves for What's Next
Democrats Are Really Going With 'Graham Platner Was Too Stupid to Know What...
Chris Cuomo on the Dems' Latest Line for the Schumer Shutdown: They're Lying
Defending Education Says the Schumer Shutdown Proves the Department of Education Is Obsole...
Two Public Employee Unions Side With Illegals, Sue Trump to Block CDL Safety...
Another Deadly Crash Tied to Gavin Newsom’s DMV: Illegal Immigrant Trucker Kills Three...
Inflation Smashes Economists Expectations in September As Prices Hold Steady and Wages Ros...
'Sophia Strong': 12-Year-Old Annunciation Shooting Survivor Finally Returns Home After Mir...
Schumer Shutdown: Democrats Block Pay to Use Pain As Political Leverage While Donor...
Following Day Long Demonstration, Coast Guard Security Opened Fire on U-Haul Driver Outsid...
NYC Mayoral Frontrunner Zohran Mamdani Linked Again to Anti-LGBTQ Figures — This Time...
The Defense of Men in Women's Sports Keeps Reaching Delusional Levels
Yet Another Liberal Calls Stephen Miller a Nazi
Federal Judge Strikes Down Rule Expanding Anti-Discrimination Law to 'Trans Healthcare'
DOJ Drops the Hammer on California Officials After Threats to Arrest ICE
Tipsheet

UK Prime Minister Has an 'Insane Idea' to End Cigarette Smoking

AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to put an end to cigarette smoking, and not just among teens, but eventually the entire population.

How does he envision that happening? The nanny state. 

Advertisement

Sunak has proposed raising the legal age of people in England who can purchase cigarettes by one year, and wants to continue doing so each year until it becomes illegal for everyone. 

If the proposal is approved by Parliament, kids who turn 14 this year and younger will never be able to legally purchase cigarettes in England.

“People take up cigarettes when they’re young. Four in five smokers have started by the time they’re 20,” he said, according to AP. “Later, the vast majority try to quit ... if we could break that cycle, if we could stop the start, then we would be on our way to ending the biggest cause of preventable death and disease in our country.”

Britain previously raised the age at which a person can legally buy tobacco products in 2007, from 16 to 18 years old, which helped bring smoking down among 16-17-year-olds by 30 percent, according to Sunak’s office. 

Advertisement

If the proposal succeeds, England won’t be the first country to pass such a legislation. New Zealand approved a similar measure last year.

Critics pushed back on the plan. 

Advertisement

Others, supportive of the proposal, wondered why, if his argument was framed on health and on the burden to the NHS, was there not a similar effort underway with regard to other preventable diseases. 


Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement