Member

If we follow through with the Bill as it stands, we will be placing our shopkeepers in an almost farcical situation. Picture the scene: two men in their early 20s walk into a shop in January 2030. One, born in December 2008, has just switched from cigarettes to heated tobacco products and has recommended them to his friend, so that he can stop smoking too. But the shopkeeper will not sell it to his friend because he was born in January 2009, even though it is a legal product known to help people stop smoking and the man in front of him is an adult smoker. Perhaps that young gentlemen will buy a vape instead, but there is every chance that, given that he cannot get the product that his friend is recommending, he simply shrugs his shoulders and gets his usual 20 pack instead. When it comes to helping young people to stop smoking, the public health motto should always be: do whatever works for you. For many people, that is heated tobacco.