Smokers deserve better

British American Tobacco has launched a new campaign – Vapers Deserve Better.

According to the company, ‘Like you, we share the ambition for the UK to be smoke-free by 2030.’

I’m not sure who ‘you’ is, but I do know that adults who enjoy smoking (and don’t want to quit) deserve better from the world’s second largest tobacco company, albeit one whose share of the UK cigarette market is less than ten per cent (something they share with Philip Morris which might explain why both companies are happy to support the 2030 smoke-free target).

However, like Philip Morris before them, I’d advise BAT to be careful what they wish for because, once the tobacco control lobby has achieved its ‘smoke-free’ ambition, the next target will be ‘vape-free’ and, after that, ‘nicotine-free’. (This, by the way, is not a hunch, it’s a guaranteed certainty.)

Meanwhile, back at the coal face and the unrelenting war on smoking, Forest will just have to continue defending the rights and interests of adults who enjoy smoking and don’t want to quit. And that includes unglamorous jobs like protesting against calls for outdoor smoking bans, even in small territories like Guernsey.

See: Campaign group calls beach smoking ban idea unfair (BBC Guernsey)
Beach smoking ban ‘would be a massive overreaction’ (Guernsey Press).