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

[-:Undertaker:-]

I Agree That We Should Raise The Age, But NOT Ban It From Public Buildings Such As Pubs, Work Etc..

[Bef]

Drinkings already set at 18.
Plus one diffence between tanning and eating exseivly and smokeing is. Smokeing is MORE adictive than Herowin. The others arnt adictive at all... one cig can actaly get your hooked, a burger cant...

No, you can drink from the age of 5 up, you just cant buy it.

And it depends on who you ask about the Heroin/Nicotine which is more addictive debate

Among heroin addicts, about 38 percent rank the urge to smoke as equal to or stronger than the urge to take heroin. Among those addicted to alcohol, about 50 percent say the urge to smoke is at least as strong as the urge to drink.

As i personally have never taken heroin and i am assuming you havn't either as you seem to have a brain in your head
then we can't say from personal experience that heroin is less addictive the nicotine.
What i can say from personal experience is that it takes alot more then one cigerette to make you addicted.

1 = Most serious 6 = Least serious

Henningfield Ratings

Substance Withdrawal Reinforcement Tolerance Dependence Intoxication

Nicotine 3 4 2 1 5
Heroin 2 2 1 2 2
******* 4 1 4 3 3
Alcohol 1 3 3 4 1
Caffeine 5 6 5 5 6
Marijuana 6 5 6 6 4


Benowitz Ratings

Substance Withdrawal Reinforcement Tolerance Dependence Intoxication

Nicotine 3* 4 4 1 6
Heroin 2 2 2 2 2
******* 3* 1 1 3 3
Alcohol 1 3 4 4 1
Caffeine 4 5 3 5 5
Marijuana 5 6 5 6 4

* Equal ratings

Withdrawal Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.
Reinforcement A measure of the substance's ability, in human and animal tests, to get users to take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.

Tolerance How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.

Dependence How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.

Intoxication Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.

From the above information you can see that both scientists have similar views on the addictivnes of Nicotine and Heroin. It seems that they both agree that Nicotine is harder to quit but personaly i belive this is becaus people ar offered methadone. I have met a few heroin addicts who have all been perscribed methadone free off the NHS. I dont know any of these people that well as thats a circle i try not too move in but iv been told of alot of people who methodone has helped. Heroin, is known to destroy people, they become nothing more then shaking wrecks that live as if they are posessed, it can only take a matter of weeks/ months for them to be taken over by the drug. It cannot be compared to nicotine.
Anyway, I also know alot of people who have paied around £40 a month for nicotine patches and it hasn't helped most of them. Anyway. In a nutshell. Nicotine is no where near as dangerous as heroin.

[Mentor]

No, you can drink from the age of 5 up, you just cant buy it.

Wrong, drinking it is illgal outside till 17, then only in restandts with a meal.
after 18 its fully purchace and drinkable.

What your thinking about is on your own propety. And the age is 3 and up. You could also drive a car at that age on your own property. But we still say the age is 17...

And it depends on who you ask about the Heroin/Nicotine which is more addictive debate

Well i dont usealy get my evidance from asking them to rate addictivness out of 10. There are quite simple scientifc means to find out how quickly a orgnaic sample will gain a depenaces on a chemical... Its alot more accuret "/

As i personally have never taken heroin and i am assuming you havn't either as you seem to have a brain in your head
then we can't say from personal experience that heroin is less addictive the nicotine.
What i can say from personal experience is that it takes alot more then one cigerette to make you addicted.

Well how ever you feel about it, im actaly working of fact not opionion here "/

From the above information you can see that both scientists have similar views on the addictivnes of Nicotine and Heroin. It seems that they both agree that Nicotine is harder to quit but personaly i belive this is becaus people ar offered methadone. I have met a few heroin addicts who have all been perscribed methadone free off the NHS. I dont know any of these people that well as thats a circle i try not too move in but iv been told of alot of people who methodone has helped. Heroin, is known to destroy people, they become nothing more then shaking wrecks that live as if they are posessed, it can only take a matter of weeks/ months for them to be taken over by the drug. It cannot be compared to nicotine.

But im not talking about the effects, nore the withdrawl simtoms im actaly talking about how adictive the substance is "/

Anyway, I also know alot of people who have paied around £40 a month for nicotine patches and it hasn't helped most of them. Anyway. In a nutshell. Nicotine is no where near as dangerous as heroin.

Well the people comeing off obvisly have next to no will power, alot of people in my family have gone cold turky, even afterr some of them have been smokeing for over 50 years, no nicoteen patches. Just instanainus stopping, and maintaing that. It may not be easy buts very possible "/

Also another thing. Nicoteen isnt taken directy, 90% of a ciagrett is tar, herowin on the other hand, is injected intravusly, meaning no filtering would take place. u take nicoteen like that, youd be dead... So if your trying to make that comparuison its a bad exsample...

[Bef]

Mentor ssh, your too clever
But you did how ever contridict yourself... If a cigerette is only 10% nicotine then its only 10% addictive (I think) and also you say you are working on fact and then talk about your family.
And um were going on to a different debate now lol...

Back to the age thing, what im trying to say is theres alot more effective ways of dealing with underage smoking.
Even if the age is raised, children will still be able to easily get hold of ciggerettes. If they were to get rid of machines in pubs and have them behind the bar, and to start an on the spot fine for teenagers causing trouble it would deal with the problem alot better.
As i said before, most children start smoking to look more adult. Raising the age is just going to make it look more "adult"

[poll]

well i smoke occasionaly at my local shop my friends can get cigarettes from the age of 12 so its hardly going to stop me im almost 15 so not a big deal i smoke when depresed

[Bef]

Spud, the law really should have cracked down on that. Theres now a policy that they cant serve anyone who looks under EIGHTEEN without proof of ID. But meh, it doesn't matter anyway, as like i said, kids can easily get them from machines.

[Mentor]

Mentor ssh, your too clever
But you did how ever contridict yourself... If a cigerette is only 10% nicotine then its only 10% addictive (I think) and also you say you are working on fact and then talk about your family.
And um were going on to a different debate now lol...

10%? im not even sure nicoteen levels get up to .5 % of a cigaretts conetnt.

And im not saying it would only be an equal % addiction. The more of a substance is inputed to the body the more the body will build an indepeance on it. So hypoteticaly if one cig dosnt get u adicted, a pure nicoteen load would be about the equivlent of 200 Cigs... which would have more of an impact.
Seocndly that much intacke of nicoteen at once would overwhelm the body anyway and youd be dead.

The effects are even more lessened by the ingestion method, the lungs filter things massivly. You breath in things commonly that if injected would have you a place in the morg...

Back to the age thing, what im trying to say is theres alot more effective ways of dealing with underage smoking.
Even if the age is raised, children will still be able to easily get hold of ciggerettes. If they were to get rid of machines in pubs and have them behind the bar, and to start an on the spot fine for teenagers causing trouble it would deal with the problem alot better.

I agree, but the govemnt makes alot of tax so is unlikly to actaly make a particaly decent effort to cut smokeing down. The 18 age will still stop some and make people think of it more. it will also make more sence to be placed at the same age as alchol anyway "/

As i said before, most children start smoking to look more adult. Raising the age is just going to make it look more "adult"

personly i think that views kinda died, most people that smoke just look like ****s these days, the whole idea of it being cool, or adult to smokes pretty much out the window imo "/

[StripedTiger]

From a non-smokers side i would say Yes. This is because school children (under aged) can still pas as 16 year olds by the amount of make up their wear etc. They then buy ciggarettes and sell them on to children in school, which encourages smoking underaged.

From a smokers view it shouldnt be because 16 year olds + are already addicted and they should see it unfair. but you might aswell wait a few more years before killing yourself.

The more of a substance is inputed to the body the more the body will build an indepeance on it. So hypoteticaly if one cig dosnt get u adicted, a pure nicoteen load would be about the equivlent of 200 Cigs... which would have more of an impact

Yes i do agree with that but people dont smoke just becuase they are addicted. Alot of children will smoke to look tough / good and to show off to others. Or they will smoke becuase their friends smoke too.

01101101entor]I agree, but the govemnt makes alot of tax so is unlikly to actaly make a particaly decent effort to cut smokeing down. The 18 age will still stop some and make people think of it more. it will also make more sence to be placed at the same age as alchol anyway

Taxes may go up becuase of cigatettes but it is also very expensive when people claim benefits when they have cancer. So it can be a bigger loss then it is a gain.

personly i think that views kinda died, most people that smoke just look like ****s these days, the whole idea of it being cool, or adult to smokes pretty much out the window

Even if you think the idea is out of the window people still do it becuase of that reason among others that i mentioned earlier.

well i smoke occasionaly at my local shop my friends can get cigarettes from the age of 12 so its hardly going to stop me im almost 15 so not a big deal i smoke when depresed

Alot of people seem to think that smoking releaves them from stress. Just like alcohol. but jsut like alcohol, smoking is a depresser and will actually make you feel worse eventually and it could be the final thing that makes you decide to injur yourself as it has been prooved in some cases.

Wrong, drinking it is illgal outside till 17

Wrong. You can drink in your home from the age of 5 years old. Drinking out pubs is not allowed until the age of 18. Drinking with meals such as wine is around 17 years old.

[Mentor]

From a smokers view it shouldnt be because 16 year olds + are already addicted and they should see it unfair. but you might aswell wait a few more years before killing yourself.

If there already on em, may be a chance to save themselves? so where's the loss

Yes i do agree with that but people dont smoke just becuase they are addicted. Alot of children will smoke to look tough / good and to show off to others. Or they will smoke becuase their friends smoke too.

Well i tend not to befreind anyone quite that pathetic, Most people wont even go near you if you smoke now days. All you gain is the abilty to be smelt from a great distance "/

Taxes may go up becuase of cigatettes but it is also very expensive when people claim benefits when they have cancer. So it can be a bigger loss then it is a gain.

They make ALOT of cigs, more than they loose to the NHS on its reprotuons, althogh thats only if you dont put a value on human life "/

Even if you think the idea is out of the window people still do it becuase of that reason among others that i mentioned earlier.

Who exsactly? do you think this? do people u know think this? who exsactly thinks this, as i and the people i know dont "/

Wrong. You can drink in your home from the age of 5 years old. Drinking out pubs is not allowed until the age of 18. Drinking with meals such as wine is around 17 years old.

Which is just a repeate of what i actaly said...

[Dakara]

Yeah I can't be bothered to actually read through all those posts, so I'm just going to say that frankly I think that people shouldn't be allowed to buy cigarettes anyway, as hospital wards are full of people suffering from illnesses caused by cigarettes using up hospital beds because they've been stupid enough to smoke.
Edit:
Didn't mean to offend anyone.