Not really, cigar and pipe tobacco smokers are a rounding error against the population…nasal snuff users even less. Vaping is only added to pad the numbers. Let’s get real here, cigarette smokers are what is being effected, not other forms of tobacco use which are basically non existent.
By “pad the numbers” you mean “accurately reflect reality?”
I am aware that cigarette smokers are who is affected by this policy but that is not the discussion at hand.
Also raising age limits did reduce smoking rates, but also neither here nor there as this policy is not strictly about raising age to purchase but effectively forming a generational cutoff.
Sunak is really reaching here, to say the least, but the data is the data. It’s not worth trying to ignore reality.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28850065/
ASH surveys showed a rise in the prevalence of ever use of e-cigarettes from 7% (2016) to 11% (2017) but prevalence of regular use did not change remaining at 1%. In summary, surveys across the UK show a consistent pattern: most e-cigarette experimentation does not turn into regular use, and levels of regular use in young people who have never smoked remain very low.
Kids smoking are at an all time high and so is vaping. Raising the age limit didn’t do anything to help reduce this, because kids haven’t been allowed to smoke for decades now.
Also, this is literally in your link:
While it may be surprising that the new T21 law didn’t reduce cigarette smoking across all types of smoking behavior,** explanations include pre-existing declines in smoking nationwide, **enforcement challenges at the state level, increased use of other products (e-cigarettes and marijuana), definitions of smokers in the study, sales outside of retail stores and other tobacco control policies.
Crazy thought… people aren’t smoking anymore. No wonder it’s in decline…