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SNP mulls full ban on cigarette vending machines

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Published Date: 23 December 2008
By Scott Macnab
THE Scottish Government is to crack down on the use of cigarette vending machines by youngsters, it was confirmed today.
Shona Robison, the public health minister, pledged that legislation to be introduced next year will include further controls on the sale of tobacco from such machines to restrict access by children and young people.

She made the pledge in a le
tter to a back-bench Nationalist MSP, Kenneth Gibson, who has a motion before parliament calling for a ban on the machines. He said: "It may be getting more difficult for people under the legal age to buy cigarettes over the counter, but it is still easy to access vending machines."

Organisations including Ash, the BMA, Asthma UK, Cancer Research and the Royal College of Physicians are contacting all MSPs in a joint letter

calling for the government to "ban tobacco vending machines outright".

Ms Robison said in a letter to Mr Gibson there is a "clear need" for further controls on the sale of tobacco from vending machines to restrict access by youngsters.

It emerged last week that the number of young people smoking in Scotland has returned to a level last seen nearly ten years ago. Nearly a third of people between 16-24 are smokers, according to a report by health officials.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said that a full ban was being looked at.

"Banning vending machines is under active consideration as part of our health bill, which is expected to be introduced next year," the spokeswoman added.



Page 1 of 1

 
1

Merlin90,

23/12/2008 00:52:35
Electorate mulls the removal of health nannies at the next election.
2

soapy1,

Rainworth 23/12/2008 01:21:00
I would point out vending machines may be operated by tokens which need to be collected from a member of staff or even enabled/disabled by infra red remote just like your television, either solution would negate children from using them.

I would also suggest that if the majoriy of adults do not use the machines because no-one with any sense would pay more money for fewer cigarettes unless they really have too and the same would be true of children who have even less to spend!

This decision will prove once and for all whether it is ASH, CRUK and BHF running Scotland or their elected representatives.
3

Trom,

"timbone" in Manchester 23/12/2008 01:44:04
Soapy mate, you have to be more specific, you get 16 cigarettes from a vending machine, not 20, and they cost £1 more. That's it, veding machine, 16 cigarettes for £6.90, corner shop or supermarket, 20 cigarettes for £5.90. Children don't use vending machines, they use older brothers.
These anti smoking puritans don't like it do they, smoking rates have increased in young people since the smoking ban.
They will do everything they can to try and make smoking history, but it won't work, people will always be able to get cigarettes or cigars or tobacco and any other paraphenalia they need.
4

Charles Linskaill,

Edinburgh 23/12/2008 02:13:46


"cigarette vending machines"?

As many more important 'Scottish-Issues' are,...


...'swept under the carpet', Speaks Mountains!, Dont It?!

5

soapy1,

rainworth 23/12/2008 02:48:48
Thanks Trom, you are quite right, your expansion of my post gives it better perspective.
6

Guga II,

Rockall 23/12/2008 04:10:11
The country is going down the tubes, unemployment is soaring, house repossessions are soaring, and all these Labour Party fifth columnists in the SNP can think about is imposing more Stalinist, totalitarian rules, regulations and bans.

Will these fascists please leave adults alone. If they want to smoke, what right have these totalitarians to stop them. We don't live in Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany or Gangster Government China.

The Labour Party fifth columnists in the SNP, like that waste of space, Kenny MacAskill, are slowly destroying the SNP.
7

fife runner,

23/12/2008 06:46:26
# 6 your views seem just as extreme as thsoe you attack.
8

Mercutio,

FALKIRK 23/12/2008 07:04:45
#6 Guga. Just because you are paranoiac doesn't mean they are not out to get you.
9

qohldr,

23/12/2008 07:15:30
Support the SNP but don't like a policy of theirs, Blame Labour.
Anyway why not just make tobacco produces illegal altogether instead of all these silly little bans that evidence proves are not working.
Why not make it illegal to invest in, produce, transport, buy, sell or use tobacco products.
10

an interested party,

23/12/2008 07:28:59
vending machines ?
corner shops?

no its the man that wanders round the estate selling them at 4 quid a pack from his booze cruise

and why does that happen eh?

becuase there is a market and its worth the effort.

drugs are illegal but i dont see that stopping their use

they only person that is going to stop anyone doing anything is the person themselves,
education is the only way
11

carrottop,

Dumfries 23/12/2008 08:39:23
SNP are only the overflow from Labour who love to tell you what to do and will listen to what you have to say but only if its what they want to hear.

Liberals are so far up Labours arrse that they will never be heard and the Conservatives will never work out how to get the essential mass numptie vote that would gain power. Whats left for the thinking Scot but the boat out.
12

yolanda,

23/12/2008 09:36:01

There's no need to ban them. If cigarette vending machines were only situated in licensed premises, that would deal with the issue of children getting their fags from them. I doubt if many of them get them that way anyway, especially as some ice cream vans and corner shops sell them, illegally, as singles, at 50p a stick. This is a much more attractive option for young people.
13

watcher,

Edinburgh 23/12/2008 09:56:01
Kids can get their hands on crack cocaine, do you really think that cigarettes will pose a problem for them?
Salmond will spend our money on irrelevant things like putting aside £10million of public money to help keep two Italian paintings in the country. It would be better spent educating smokers about health, then it might not get passed onto their kids.
14

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 23/12/2008 10:31:47
There was a comparison drawn yesterday in this very paper between Germany in the 1930s and the government of today.

Quite accurate, all things considered.
15

DeniseX,

23/12/2008 10:57:28
I am beginning to think that the tobacco companies are behind these smoking restrictions. Smoking, not smoking, smoking bans etc appear in the news daily and this appears to be the cause of more youngsters taking up smoking. Is this what they mean by out of sight, out of mind?
16

Gdgy,

23/12/2008 11:07:09
Good ....there is no point having bans on the sale of fags if any little scumster can buy them from a machine
17

TheTerminator,

23/12/2008 11:10:21
Kenneth Gibson is the Convenor of the Cross Party Group on Tobacco Control at Holyrood whose members also include the BHF,Asthma UK, CRUK,and ASH Scotland . It is little wonder that this group of Anti-Smokers have instigated the campaign to write letters to MSP's. The MSP's should take more note of the following:-

THE 1ST WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST PROHIBITION

"SMOKING BANS AND LIES"

IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BUILDING 27/28 JAN 2009

http://www.antiprohibition.org/ticap_pages.php?q=6


18

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 23/12/2008 11:31:22
With reference to #18, a "cross-party" group is supposed to be chosen for the balanced views of it's members in order that matters may be debated as impartially as possible and without regard to politics.

Why then, is the Cross Party Group on Tobacco Control made up from mainly biased anti-smoking groups who have axes to grind? It is hardly any wonder that every possible thing is being done to discriminate against and vilify smokers is it?

This group should be disbanded immediately and re-convened including a proportionate number of people who are likely to have an interest in NOT banning or restricting smoking, but leaving it up to individual choice. As it stands, this group is just a farcical rubber-stamp coallition of "yes-men" whose only aim is to restrict the individual's freedom of choice.
19

,

23/12/2008 12:18:57
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
20

Robb,

23/12/2008 12:30:06
#19 - Who do you propose to pay for these psychological assessments that you want all smokers to undergo, and what would the mental health professionals do with their findings? Am I to assume that you would be happy to fund treatment for those found to have mental health problems? Sounds like an extra burden on the NHS to me.
21

Robb,

23/12/2008 12:30:54
Sorry - that was addressed to #20, not 19.
22

TheTerminator,

23/12/2008 12:51:54
#20
Quote "Anyone selling cigarettes to children should be charged with assault and actual bodily harm to the child concerned, parents smoking in the family home and recklessly exposing young children and babies to cancer causing secondary smoke should be referred to Social Services for child abuse, and smokers should have to pay for all smoking related medical treatment. And no... their taxes don't cover it already." Unquote.

Following your line of reasoning the Government should be charged with manslaughter for allowing smoking.
It might be better if you did some research before spouting your Anti-Smoking comments. Smoking related costs to the NHS are said to be £2Billion while revenue from Tobacco products is over £10 Billion.

23

an interested party,

23/12/2008 13:29:24
ANYWHERE within 50 yards of ANY public space

lol

thats anywhere now isnt it

you do however sound a reasoned and considered person

my bad

and your logic bans car, trains and any other form of modern life

enjoy your moral religious high ground

leave others to do as they deem fit with there own lifes

if you would be so kind
24

The_Reiver,

23/12/2008 13:36:49
At last the SNP is proposing something sensible that will benefit the people of Scotland for generations to come. Let's hope they don't bottle out and bend in the populist wind. However, the glorification of Whisky in 'The Homecoming' programme does them no good. This is the other major cause of premature death in Scotland but it seems that nobody has the guts to tackle it. Raise the price of spirits - the evidence is overwhelming that this is the best way to tackle alcoholism at its root.
25

The_Reiver,

23/12/2008 13:38:35
#6
The Labour Party fifth columnists in the SNP, like that waste of space, Kenny MacAskill, are slowly destroying the SNP.

GOOD
26

,

23/12/2008 13:43:42
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
27

JCA REID,

Annan 23/12/2008 14:21:34
Quite correct! Get rid of these things!!
how can folk, often on limited financial resources, afford to simply "burn" £2,000+ a year on something that gives the body absolutely nothing? & don't say pleasure!!
28

Royalist,

23/12/2008 14:33:03
I would suggest that at 13.13 on Dec 27th, every man woman & child within Ibrox Stadium, including CFC, RFC fans, Police, Stewards, CFC, RFC players, officials, referees, ball boys, pie tall workers etc, stop and do the hokey cokey.

Lets send these waste of space MSP plums & politically correct vagabonds a message.

We are sick & tired of your politically correct mumbo jumbo.

Its time these idiots went out & got a real job & maybe a real life as well.
29

DeniseX,

23/12/2008 14:35:19
27. Do you want to be controlled or don't you? Perhaps you only want to be controlled by the SNP? Personally, I don't want any Government conrolling my life.
30

DeniseX,

23/12/2008 14:37:28
Sorry. I don't want any Government controlling my life.
31

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 23/12/2008 15:39:20
#28:

ptdoug is quite adept at copy/pasting his own posts in order to cross-post them on similar threads in different boards. Presumably he does this for maximum effect---only he got a bit muddled up on post #27.

Actually, it is orionic because in that post he appears to come down on the side of individual rights, yet with smoking, he is totallt against that. It couldn't be that he is a hypocrite could it????

Anyway. I can copy/paste too:-

PTDoug, why don't you go to North Korea and leave us all alone?
32

Decent,

23/12/2008 15:41:34
God - 50p for a single? In my youth it was 2p - and you got a free match thrown in.
33

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 23/12/2008 15:46:33
#35:

I never bought singles---50p for a packet of "Numbies" (Players No6). Even still got an old packet siged by all the original members of Motorhead.
34

Westfield Bairns,

falkirk 23/12/2008 16:02:22
I'm only surprised these vending machines haven't been banned years ago and i just recently stopped smoking, there a rip off anyway
35

Axl,

Edinburgh 23/12/2008 18:03:28
I think these cigarette vending machines should be done away with.

Apart from totally ripping off smokers with the astronomical costs of the 16 fags they put out, they look bloody awful and make the area of the pub or bar they sit in look very shabby.

It may well be the case that some underage kids are able to access cigarettes via them. However, banning surely has to be a good thing. It would take away any incentive or notion a person may have to have a ciggie when they are enjoying a drink in a licenced premises.

If someone really wants a fag, they can go out of the pub and round to the local shop and buy them there - and save themselves a fair bit of money in the process..
36

Hugh Roscombe,

23/12/2008 19:02:54
Crazy.
37

,

23/12/2008 22:37:48
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
38

,

23/12/2008 22:44:01
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
39

Carol2000,

Madison WI US 23/12/2008 23:48:45
The anti-smokers are guilty of flagrant scientific fraud for ignoring more than 50 studies, which show that human papillomaviruses cause over ten times more lung cancers than they pretend are caused by secondhand smoke. Passive smokers are more likely to have been exposed to this virus, so the anti-smokers' studies, because they are all based on nothing but lifestyle questionnaires, have been cynically DESIGNED to falsely blame passive smoking for all those extra lung cancers that are really caused by HPV.

http://www.smokershistory.com/hpvlungc.htm

The anti-smokers have committed the same type of fraud with every disease they blame on smoking and passive smoking, as well as ignoring other types of evidence that proves they are lying, such as the fact that the death rates from asthma have more than doubled since their movement began.

http://www.smokershistory.com/newviews.htm
40

Darien,

Panama 24/12/2008 00:47:57
I've got a machine. But I'm not telling anybody where it is.
41

Trom,

'timbone' in Manchester 24/12/2008 01:20:31
"Personally, I am sick to death of these idiots blowing smoke in my face, and in my kids faces on the street as they hang in packs outside public places killing themselves."

#20, are you mad or something? Look at Cancer Research UK statistics, 0.1% of smokers get lung cancer, yea, that's right 0.1%, and most over 60, not all 61, many 70 or 80, is that young? Killing themselves? what, are you going to live forever?
Blowing smoke in your face? you mean a bit of drifting tobacco smoke? nothing to the invisible stuff coming out of those car exhausts.

Oh yes, I forgot about second hand smoke, give me a break, if active smokers getting lung cancer are 0.1% then how on earth can there be any such thing as harm from SHS - and don't give me that thing about SHS being more dangerous, that is another made up scare story which you have fallen for hook line and sinker, it's you who need to have your mental state assessed for being so gullible.
42

BeeGee,

24/12/2008 08:18:50
Who are the winners in all this...

Government
Taxes on tobacco sales
Corporation Tax from Manufacturers Profits
Cash-back from Pharmaceutical Companies for promoting Nicotine Replacement Products

oh and yes.. the Pharmaceutical Companies who fund the World Health Organisation as well as pedaling death by marketing both Champix and Zyban, products linked with inducing suicide.

Who are the losers... the people of Scotland who every day lose their Freedom to Choose
43

TheTerminator,

25/12/2008 15:17:06
This is how the Anti-smoking organisations in England
manipulated the vote about tobacco displays:-


http://www.smokefreeaction.org.uk/consultation_response/eresponse.html

 

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Today's Vote

Is the government right to try to ban newsagents from having cigarette displays?
Yes, anything to discourage smokers is good
No, shopkeepers could lose their livelihoods
No, smokers will still know the fags are under the counter

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