Lying in a hospital bed with a tube up your nose isn’t the best way to spend your life, that’s why I don’t smoke. We have all had the facts drilled into us continuously by the Government; if we smoke we’ll get cancer, the opposite sex will avoid us, our families will abandon us and even the NHS will reject us. To be honest living with syphilis is easier than living as a smoker.

Already the Government has introduced laws to stop smoking in public areas which maybe an inconvenience for most people, I for one love the law. It means whenever I’m in a pub smoke doesn’t surround the table and choke my lungs. In the past being downwind from a smoker at a bus stop was a horrible daily occurrence. This is now no longer a problem with this new law.

October 1st legislation was passed to stop under 18 year olds purchasing cigarettes from shops. The legislation has had a fairly low advertising campaign and only recently people have discovered such an act has been passed. Obviously this act has been completely aimed at the teenage population that currently smoke. However I can honestly say at least within my social groups this act hasn’t changed a thing.

If an under 18 year old wants cigarettes then he simply has to ask his older mate to buy them for him. This deems the new legislation completely pointless. All it does is cause friction between the teenage population and the Government. Not only that but shop keepers (as seen on the news) have been put under stress from young teenagers that in the past could buy from them but now have been banned to do so.

Previously (when 16+ could purchase cigarettes) I have had very young teenagers approach me with money requesting I buy for them. For the obvious implications a life time of smoking causes I have disappointed quite a few teens by refusing to purchase for them. So the idea of less teens smoking is a view which only can be good when smoking causes so much damage to the body and even others around you.

However this legislation doesn’t fulfil the purpose of stopping teens smoking, especially if you are an addicted smoker at a young age; where there is a will there is a way and that way for most is to ask your elders to buy for you.