Moves to protect children agreed after four-nations consultation.
Plans to ban single use vapes and raise the tobacco age of sale so that no one born on or after 1 January 2009 can ever legally be sold tobacco in Scotland have been unveiled.
Ministers have agreed to take forward the recommendations following a consultation on ‘Creating a Smokefree Generation and Tackling Youth Vaping’ which ran across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland last year.
The report also recommends that powers are taken to restrict vape flavours, how vapes are displayed in stores, their packaging and product presentation, along with powers to regulate other nicotine products. In addition, it suggests measures which are already underway or in place in Scotland, including restrictions on non-nicotine vapes and powers for local authorities to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for breaches of age of sale legislation for tobacco products and vapes.
Legislating to ban single-use vapes fulfils a Programme for Government commitment to reduce vaping and take action to tackle their environmental impact of single-use vapes.
The harms posed by smoking are absolutely clear – killing more than 8,000 people a year in Scotland, and creating a huge issue for our NHS. It is the job of Government to tackle this health problem.
GRAEME
Single-use vapes are not only a health problem, particularly for children and young people, but also a growing environmental problem – with these hard-to-recycle plastics and electronic components being discarded on practically every street corner in the country.
It is time they were banned, and I am proud to be part of the Government which is taking this measure forward.
