10th June 2005
Bid to Raise Smoking Age
MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan
McNeil, has launched a bid to raise the legal age for buying tobacco from 16 to
18.
Mr
McNeil, who is a member of Holyrood’s Health Committee, has tabled a Stage 2
amendment to the Smoking, Health & Social Care (Scotland) Bill which would give
the Executive powers to vary by Order the legal minimum age.
At the same time, a Tayside
LMC motion calling for the minimum legal age for the purchase and sale of
cigarettes should be raised from 16 to 18 years will be debated on Tuesday 28th
June at the BMA’s Annual Representative Meeting in Manchester.
Speaking today, Mr McNeil
said:
“It would be an anomaly if
we banned adults from smoking in their local pub, while still allowing children
of 16 to have a cigarette when they’re waiting for the school bus.
“Most smokers wish they’d
never started and don’t want their kids to start.
“The younger you start
smoking, the harder it is to stop. And
if we raise the age to 18, we’ll make it much harder for younger teenagers -
who might pass for 16, but not 18 - to buy cigarettes.
It should make things easier for shopkeepers too.”
The effect of Mr McNeil’s
amendment would be as follows: