*DEBATE* Should the age of being allowed to buy cigarettes be raised from 16 to 18

[Mit]

Well also imagine telling all these 16 year olds that are hooked, because alot of my mates are, imagine telling them they cant buy any more cigarettes, its not fair on them. Because its difficult to give up and you cant just pull them away from them.
They obviously havnt thought if it from that prespective.

But rasising the age of buying them would make it harder for them to get cigarettes causing some people to stop. Ok it isn't easy to quit but it will be better for them in the long run.

It would also mean less 16 yr olds are wasting their money on cigarettes, and some may not start. If its there and they can buy it they will begin smoking. Also a lot of people find buying cigarettes cool at 16, so if the age was higher then it would stop all these wannabe cool people from buying them...

[Dracolis]

I agree with you. The age limit should at least be the same as drinking as both are unsociable activities that all good people who care about others and themselves hate. Hopefully one day these things will both be ended and ppl can go around and not worry about being choked to death by smoke or being kicked and punched to death by drunks.

[Tommy]

Yeh but it will stop others from buying them who are not hooked. The ones that are hooked already will get over it.

Dont you realise how dangerous it is too immediatly take away something someone is addicted too? If youre addicted to something you will do anything to get it. Anything... if you dont know someone who is addicted then i see why you say what you say but i do know people. And taking cigerrettes from people can cause more illnesses than it caused before hand.

[holo-jonny]

smoking is a waste of money.
they cost loads of money and they can actually kill you.
I think that since OAP`s don`t have to work to get money and since they will die soon anyway they should be the only ones getting them.
increase the ciggarette age to 60.

[Tommy]

smoking is a waste of money.
they cost loads of money and they can actually kill you.
I think that since OAP`s don`t have to work to get money and since they will die soon anyway they should be the only ones getting them.
increase the ciggarette age to 60.

Well that ruined the mood of the debate, with such a stupid answer.

[Dracolis]

Dont you realise how dangerous it is too immediatly take away something someone is addicted too? If youre addicted to something you will do anything to get it. Anything... if you dont know someone who is addicted then i see why you say what you say but i do know people. And taking cigerrettes from people can cause more illnesses than it caused before hand.

I think that anyone who is addicted to anything is weak-minded. As soon as you realise that something is bad for you, you stop. Or at least you can wean yourself off of it.

[Bef]

It should because its the 16 year olds who still go to school that give the younger pupils their cigarettes. This would help stop schoolkids from smoking as there would be no one to pass around cigarettes in the playgrounds and on the buses.

And the sixth formers? There eighteen... Plus most over age teenage smokers dont go in the shop for little kids. I know i wont... why waste my time helping someone else get in to a habbit that i wish i had never started?
Anyway... Sixteen is the right age i think. I mean, you can get married, have sexual intercourse, move in to your own home at sixteen... If sixteen year olds are responsible enough to do that then they are resbonsible enough to make an informed decision at whever they should smoke or not.
I dont know one person who smokes who couldn't tell you in detail how every ciggerette is giving them less and less hope of a pain free future.
Also, now they have bought in an agreement that you have to look eighteen to be served with out ID so its alot more differcult for younger children to get served in shops.
The problemn which needs to be dealt with are cigeratte machines. Kids of any age could easily walk into a pub foyer, family club etc and use the *** machines without being seen. With this still an issue i feel that the age of smoking shouldn't even be considered. You need to lay down all the bricks before you start the next layer or the house wont be very well built
At present children under 16 dont get arrested for smoking or have to pay fines, Its not even the shop owners like many people think. Its the person behind the tills responsibility, this means that they are thinking of themselves, all shop workers should know this and tbh i doubt anybody is stupid enough to risk the neck selling someone blatently under 16 cigerattes anymore...
Its been proposed that a new law be brought in so children as young as 11-12 can be forced to pay an on the spot fine for vandelism, drunken and disordally and graffeti. I think smoking should be added to the list. Yes some under 16's may still smoke even with the threat of having there pocket money cut for a year but it will be the minority. It will also discourage children from standing outside the shop asking randomers to go in for them, and also sneaking into pubs to use the machines.
I think this would be a far more sucessful method of stopping under age smoking. If the smoking age is raised to 18 but children are still not threatend by any real punishment then they are still going to smoke.
Alcohol to young children can actually be alot more damaging then cigerettes at the time. Children are more likely to injure themselves, get in fights, get lost, even die of alcohol poisoning on the spot when drinking yet alot more young children drink. It seems that people wanting to change laws to things like this really dont have much understanding of how alcohol effects children, how they can drop dead on the spot from one or two drinks when there really isnt much chance of them dropping dead from one or two cigerettes... It seems silly to compare something thats prooven to be able to kill people within an hour of the first drop to something that is prooven to kill people in 20/30 years.
Meh, most children smoke too shock, they do it as a way of rebillion or a way of fitting into the "cool" crowd. Putting the age up to 18 will just make it seem even bigger and badder.

An issue i really think should be dealt with is the increasing availability of tobacco on the black market.
Taxation to record levels has caused a smuggling epidemic which has resulted in millions of cheap cigarattes on the black market, many sold to children.
Reducing taxation will help run down the black market making tobacco less, not more, available to younger smokers.
There is an awufl lot of obsticales and issues to be dealt with before jumping straight on with a new age limit...

People tend to think that underage smoking is increasing. Infact statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (Social Focus in Brief: Children 2002) suggest that the number has decreased since 1996.

Also alot of this information we are given on the tele etc seems slightly exagerated. Children, like adults, must be educated about the health risks of smoking, but there is a fine line between education and propaganda, and the "quit or die" message we hear on a daily basis, is mostly propergander... Yes you CAN die from smoking evantually. It DOES cause health problems but so does tanning, drinking, eating excessivly, or really doing anything in excess... Your most likely not going to drop dead for taking a puff of a cigerette. And when people realise this then they start questioning the other smoking facts, It's dangerous, it causes a slow and painful death but not on the spot. Not right their, right then

Is it any wonder that many people rebel or develop "warning fatigue"?

In a conclusion i really think that underage smoking should be dealt with, as i now wish i had never started and i know alot of others who feel the same, But i do not think the age should be raised.
I believe there is alot of other methods which would be alot more sucessful. Il sthu now.

[Bef]

It should because its the 16 year olds who still go to school that give the younger pupils their cigarettes. This would help stop schoolkids from smoking as there would be no one to pass around cigarettes in the playgrounds and on the buses.

And the sixth formers? There eighteen... Plus most over age teenage smokers dont go in the shop for little kids. I know i wont... why waste my time helping someone else get in to a habbit that i wish i had never started?
Anyway... Sixteen is the right age i think. I mean, you can get married, have sexual intercourse, move in to your own home at sixteen... If sixteen year olds are responsible enough to do that then they are resbonsible enough to make an informed decision at whever they should smoke or not.
I dont know one person who smokes who couldn't tell you in detail how every ciggerette is giving them less and less hope of a pain free future.
Also, now they have bought in an agreement that you have to look eighteen to be served with out ID so its alot more differcult for younger children to get served in shops.
The problemn which needs to be dealt with are cigeratte machines. Kids of any age could easily walk into a pub foyer, family club etc and use the *** machines without being seen. With this still an issue i feel that the age of smoking shouldn't even be considered. You need to lay down all the bricks before you start the next layer or the house wont be very well built
At present children under 16 dont get arrested for smoking or have to pay fines, Its not even the shop owners like many people think. Its the person behind the tills responsibility, this means that they are thinking of themselves, all shop workers should know this and tbh i doubt anybody is stupid enough to risk the neck selling someone blatently under 16 cigerattes anymore...
Its been proposed that a new law be brought in so children as young as 11-12 can be forced to pay an on the spot fine for vandelism, drunken and disordally and graffeti. I think smoking should be added to the list. Yes some under 16's may still smoke even with the threat of having there pocket money cut for a year but it will be the minority. It will also discourage children from standing outside the shop asking randomers to go in for them, and also sneaking into pubs to use the machines.
I think this would be a far more sucessful method of stopping under age smoking. If the smoking age is raised to 18 but children are still not threatend by any real punishment then they are still going to smoke.
Alcohol to young children can actually be alot more damaging then cigerettes at the time. Children are more likely to injure themselves, get in fights, get lost, even die of alcohol poisoning on the spot when drinking yet alot more young children drink. It seems that people wanting to change laws to things like this really dont have much understanding of how alcohol effects children, how they can drop dead on the spot from one or two drinks when there really isnt much chance of them dropping dead from one or two cigerettes... It seems silly to compare something thats prooven to be able to kill people within an hour of the first drop to something that is prooven to kill people in 20/30 years.
Meh, most children smoke too shock, they do it as a way of rebillion or a way of fitting into the "cool" crowd. Putting the age up to 18 will just make it seem even bigger and badder.

An issue i really think should be dealt with is the increasing availability of tobacco on the black market.
Taxation to record levels has caused a smuggling epidemic which has resulted in millions of cheap cigarattes on the black market, many sold to children.
Reducing taxation will help run down the black market making tobacco less, not more, available to younger smokers.
There is an awufl lot of obsticales and issues to be dealt with before jumping straight on with a new age limit...

People tend to think that underage smoking is increasing. Infact statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (Social Focus in Brief: Children 2002) suggest that the number has decreased since 1996.

Also alot of this information we are given on the tele etc seems slightly exagerated. Children, like adults, must be educated about the health risks of smoking, but there is a fine line between education and propaganda, and the "quit or die" message we hear on a daily basis, is mostly propergander... Yes you CAN die from smoking evantually. It DOES cause health problems but so does tanning, drinking, eating excessivly, or really doing anything in excess... Your most likely not going to drop dead for taking a puff of a cigerette. And when people realise this then they start questioning the other smoking facts, It's dangerous, it causes a slow and painful death but not on the spot. Not right their, right then

Is it any wonder that many people rebel or develop "warning fatigue"?

In a conclusion i really think that underage smoking should be dealt with, as i now wish i had never started and i know alot of others who feel the same, But i do not think the age should be raised.
I believe there is alot of other methods which would be alot more sucessful. Il sthu now.

[mynameishelen!]

It should because its the 16 year olds who still go to school that give the younger pupils their cigarettes. This would help stop schoolkids from smoking as there would be no one to pass around cigarettes in the playgrounds and on the buses.

Nah I've been buying them for a mate since I was 14.

and no it shouldn't, it's not going to change the number of people who smoke, 16 year olds will just get older people to buy them for them, or buy them themselves if they can pass for 18.
It's pointless.

[Lyca]

And the sixth formers? There eighteen... Plus most over age teenage smokers dont go in the shop for little kids. I know i wont... why waste my time helping someone else get in to a habbit that i wish i had never started?
Anyway... Sixteen is the right age i think. I mean, you can get married, have sexual intercourse, move in to your own home at sixteen... If sixteen year olds are responsible enough to do that then they are resbonsible enough to make an informed decision at whever they should smoke or not.
I dont know one person who smokes who couldn't tell you in detail how every ciggerette is giving them less and less hope of a pain free future.
Also, now they have bought in an agreement that you have to look eighteen to be served with out ID so its alot more differcult for younger children to get served in shops.
The problemn which needs to be dealt with are cigeratte machines. Kids of any age could easily walk into a pub foyer, family club etc and use the *** machines without being seen. With this still an issue i feel that the age of smoking shouldn't even be considered. You need to lay down all the bricks before you start the next layer or the house wont be very well built
At present children under 16 dont get arrested for smoking or have to pay fines, Its not even the shop owners like many people think. Its the person behind the tills responsibility, this means that they are thinking of themselves, all shop workers should know this and tbh i doubt anybody is stupid enough to risk the neck selling someone blatently under 16 cigerattes anymore...
Its been proposed that a new law be brought in so children as young as 11-12 can be forced to pay an on the spot fine for vandelism, drunken and disordally and graffeti. I think smoking should be added to the list. Yes some under 16's may still smoke even with the threat of having there pocket money cut for a year but it will be the minority. It will also discourage children from standing outside the shop asking randomers to go in for them, and also sneaking into pubs to use the machines.
I think this would be a far more sucessful method of stopping under age smoking. If the smoking age is raised to 18 but children are still not threatend by any real punishment then they are still going to smoke.
Alcohol to young children can actually be alot more damaging then cigerettes at the time. Children are more likely to injure themselves, get in fights, get lost, even die of alcohol poisoning on the spot when drinking yet alot more young children drink. It seems that people wanting to change laws to things like this really dont have much understanding of how alcohol effects children, how they can drop dead on the spot from one or two drinks when there really isnt much chance of them dropping dead from one or two cigerettes... It seems silly to compare something thats prooven to be able to kill people within an hour of the first drop to something that is prooven to kill people in 20/30 years.
Meh, most children smoke too shock, they do it as a way of rebillion or a way of fitting into the "cool" crowd. Putting the age up to 18 will just make it seem even bigger and badder.

An issue i really think should be dealt with is the increasing availability of tobacco on the black market.
Taxation to record levels has caused a smuggling epidemic which has resulted in millions of cheap cigarattes on the black market, many sold to children.
Reducing taxation will help run down the black market making tobacco less, not more, available to younger smokers.
There is an awufl lot of obsticales and issues to be dealt with before jumping straight on with a new age limit...

People tend to think that underage smoking is increasing. Infact statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (Social Focus in Brief: Children 2002) suggest that the number has decreased since 1996.

Also alot of this information we are given on the tele etc seems slightly exagerated. Children, like adults, must be educated about the health risks of smoking, but there is a fine line between education and propaganda, and the "quit or die" message we hear on a daily basis, is mostly propergander... Yes you CAN die from smoking evantually. It DOES cause health problems but so does tanning, drinking, eating excessivly, or really doing anything in excess... Your most likely not going to drop dead for taking a puff of a cigerette. And when people realise this then they start questioning the other smoking facts, It's dangerous, it causes a slow and painful death but not on the spot. Not right their, right then

Is it any wonder that many people rebel or develop "warning fatigue"?

In a conclusion i really think that underage smoking should be dealt with, as i now wish i had never started and i know alot of others who feel the same, But i do not think the age should be raised.
I believe there is alot of other methods which would be alot more sucessful. Il sthu now.

Nice
That should win the debate