smoking tobacco has gone down similarly in the USA, here it has been replaced with smoking weed instead. It took about 40 years last time to see the effects of widespread cigarette smoking. We'd hope to do better with the effects of widespread weed, except the CDC has been dissolved.. it's up to EU
I'm 74 next month, and at university, in my early jobs and in pubs it was common for most people to smoke, some of them heavily. One office I worked in during the 1980s was like a fog by the end of the day.
5 of my current colleagues smoke/vape/alternate between the two - found it really surprising when I started there! (There aren’t many of us so it’s a high proportion.)
I was a kid in the 70's. And there were so many smokers here in the states that we all smoked... Even if you didn't. It was everywhere without restriction.
I was in Edgware General Hospital in London in 1985. At the end of the ward was the TV room where you were free to smoke whilst recovering from your op.
The smoking ban was one of the best things, like compulsory seatbelts, genuine lifesavers.
You see that sudden drop in men around 2004 when Shameless first aired and smoking wasn't portrayed as this cool thing to do? I could be looking into things but it could be an indication of how much the media affects society.
Which is why I think the BBC needs to push to bring back Police Boxes.
This shows the share of adults who smoke or use tobacco in the world. It's around 1/3 in Turkey and France. It was 14% in the UK and has decreased to 10% in 2024
When I was in primary school, c. 1970, my class teacher had an ash tray on his desk and smoked while he talked to kids standing next to him as he marked their work.
I wonder if that timing was also when Pulp Fiction came out. There was that movement in Hollywood where only villains smoked and then Pulp Fiction came along and made it look "cool" again. We saw a corresponding bump in the US.
I was a student in that period and smoking was heavily marketed to us. Hard to believe now, but I remember the tobacco companies paying pretty girls to dress up in scanty costumes and offer free fags to drunk students in pubs.
*This is interesting to me...
Former Smoker here- was in London last year ♥️. I think almost everyone outside was smoking. Probably the worst aspect of the trip. Smelled like an ashtray.
Most of the places I've been to with trains/subways, usually smell like piss (DC, NYC/Chicago. *Not London or Paris though).
Our NYC hotel in Times Square was quiet (Aug/24) but lots of crazies, trying to get money by offering sex. I don't know why anyone would choose to live there.
The power of sensible legislation that cuts off the propaganda money. Now if only we could do the same with the propaganda money from Russia and the US far right.
All done without prohibition. Rather achieved though ensuring the rights of non-smoker, holding accountable the culpable tobacco industry, and media spreading the word.
Old enough to have been in a restaurant with dedicated sections for smokers, with basically no effect since the smoke went everywhere. It's crazy to think it was possible to smoke inside, let alone in a place a family would come to eat...
My granny used to have to regularly wash her net curtains due to the hideous staining from their cigarette habit. Back then almost everybody in my family smoked. I cannot remember the last time I saw someone with a cigarette in their hand
My Dad used to always gk in the smoking carriage with us so he could smoke. It was gross. Didn't stop me smoking for ten years from Age 17 though, like a total idiot.
In the 1970s, half of men and 40% of women over the age of 16 reported smoking cigarettes. Since then, smoking rates have steadily fallen. By 2023, this was just 12% of men and 10% of women.
This dramatic decline is the result of decades of efforts such as clear warnings on cigarette packs, bans on tobacco advertising, indoor smoking restrictions, and support to help quit. Newer technologies — including vaping products, nicotine patches & medications — have also helped many people quit.
US cigarettes sales are now dropping 10% per year according to Goldman Sachs. A few years ago, that was 5%/year. The historical trend from the last 1960s to 10 years ago was 2% per year.
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If you look closely at the decline over the past 60 years, it looks like TELLING the public cigarettes kill (and MAYBE banning ads) started the drop which continued largely unaffected by all the coercive measures you listed. I think tobacco control WANTS to believe its taxes and bans worked.
14% of people aged 16–24 say they’ve used cannabis in the past 12 months. About a fifth of those users (ie about 3% of young people) say they use cannabis once a week or more.
This survey asks about frequency of use (in categories) rather than amount consumed, so I suspect it will be less vulnerable to that sort of wishful thinking. But obviously all survey based estimates have limitations.
50 years ago, we were FREE to smoke. The cost of 20 cigs has risen by about 2000% since '74, so that, now, 20 a day costs a UK citizen on minimum wage 30% of their net pay. That's driven by a well-meaning public health policy, but let's not kid ourselves: it's coercion, not choice.
Now, that's a good answer. Still, I'm not convinced that coercing people to abandon an addiction is the wisest way to fight it. We're addicted to social media, but nobody argues for a tax on social media posts. Is that a false equivalence? I only think the devil's advocate case is worth making here.
I doubt it's the taxation which is driving change. Education and the change in social norms has reduced the take-up of smoking. And, sadly, health issues have likely reduced the number of older smokers.
If we could just do the education, the evolving norms and the attrition, and leave out the coercive taxation, I'd have absolutely no beef with the policy or the practice.
Carrot rather than stick? Addiction is a medical issue, so maybe have a free/subsidised programme of vapes and (decreasing dose of) nicotine replacement to get smokers off the "evil weed"?
All important factors, but you only claim that taxation isn't the main driver; you don't prove it. I'd say the burden of proof lies with you - because my view (that a cash incentive is the best way to shape the choices of ordinary people) seems simple common sense, ie the obvious place to start.
This is a shockingly bad graphic, cherry picking the higher (male) rate 50 years ago and the lower (female) rate now, and trying to pretend they are equivalent. It's undoubtedly good news (though without discussing vaping, rather incomplete), but please don't treat us like we're idiots
The label text says “almost half” (ie a rounding of the mean of the male and female rates at the start of the time series) and “about 1-in-10” (a rounding of the mean rate at the end of the time series). The left-hand arrow placement could make that slightly clearer, but it’s not “shockingly bad”.
Previously all meetings were provided with ashtrays. Then things started changing. A person who I regularly sat next to at meetings smoking, summed it up for me.
I found an outdoor table for a break and smoked. Others joined me. That other person chose to join. And then asked me to stop smoking
It'll be common again soon enough since vapes are being cracked down on now. Another STELLAR Government idea.....criminalise using something that's HELPING people get off smokes. 🙄
I'd prefer that all nicotine products (vapes, mints etc.) required a prescription and were regarded strictly as medical treatment for nicotine addiction, with the prescribed dose reduced over time so it's not an endless process.
Meanwhile, here in France. I'm never not shocked to see so many young people smoking. Every doorway, every street is full of people smoking. Despite various indoor bans there is zero social stigma to smoking in France.
My belief is that smoking is one of the only polite ways to talk with strangers in France so it's way harder to kill (also NHS pushed their doctors hard on anti-smoking while France keeps docs more independent)
We've been on holiday to France and Italy in the last two years. One of the things my kids remarked on was how much both countries smell of tobacco smoke. 24% of Italian adults smoke.
12.50€ for a pack of 20, though a lot of people vape and smoke rollies, which is probably cheaper. But regardless of price, it's just so common to smoke.
Oh yeah the cultural value of smoking makes it a permanent force but that's why there was a converted effort in the UK to make it unwanted and socially unacceptable. All measures were used. Smoking now is some odd niche interest.
Comments
Until 2 years ago where I tried Wellbutrin and Chantix both together. In 3 months went frim 15/day to 1-2/day. I drink a lot less, too.
It required ZERO willpower!
The smoking ban was one of the best things, like compulsory seatbelts, genuine lifesavers.
Which is why I think the BBC needs to push to bring back Police Boxes.
Would be good to see Vape use added to the same graph!
So it turns out taxing the bastards into the ground is most effective.
Unbelievable!
Former Smoker here- was in London last year ♥️. I think almost everyone outside was smoking. Probably the worst aspect of the trip. Smelled like an ashtray.
Our NYC hotel in Times Square was quiet (Aug/24) but lots of crazies, trying to get money by offering sex. I don't know why anyone would choose to live there.
https://www.bmj.com/content/321/7257/323
🍁🛶❤️💙💚🔬⚖️🌻🌻🌻✊
Would never accept taking a child to an environment like that now, back then seemed totally normal.
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If you look closely at the decline over the past 60 years, it looks like TELLING the public cigarettes kill (and MAYBE banning ads) started the drop which continued largely unaffected by all the coercive measures you listed. I think tobacco control WANTS to believe its taxes and bans worked.
Fewer smokers means fewer people suffering from these serious diseases.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor?country=~GBR
I suspect it's because of how large the effects are, e.g.
The tobacco industry are still determined to make their money at the expense of everyone’s health, and deny it along the way.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/5-truths-you-need-to-know-about-vaping
Around 11% of the adult population in Great Britain vapes:
- 53% of them are ex-smokers
- 39% are current smokers and
- 8% are never smokers
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/drugmisuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2024
I found an outdoor table for a break and smoked. Others joined me. That other person chose to join. And then asked me to stop smoking
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/single-use-vapes-ban