[lakpan]

When I was young, kids in middle school would pick up smoking. Just because it didn’t happen to you it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

I’m against the general “what about the kids” rhetoric, but in this case it’s both important and easy to implement, because sellers already card you for the aforementioned purchases.

[mharig]

Didn't find a timeseries for the percentage of smokers, which is suspicious, so I guess nobody can say what role tobacco control did play. The percentage of smokers in the group of 14-17 year olds in Germany has doubled from 2021 to 2022, despite all the pervert laws.

Edit: Btw, I did pick up smoking when I was 14. Abandoned it half a year later. The development of kids to adults needs exploration. If you steal that, you steal childhood. And, as history from the seventies to nowadays proves, if you begin to regulate something that might seem necessary, there will rise assholes that regulate way too much. Find another way to minimize harm.