United Kingdom : Leading Advocate of Vape

Here and there we see articles showing the UK to be very favorable to vaping.

What measures has the British government taken? What are the results?

- Findings and actions

The UK is the country that has undertaken the most studies on vaping in recent years. Their aim? To demonstrate its risk-reduction benefits and its performance in smoking cessation.

Since 2010, the country has been taking steps to reduce the percentage of smokers, allocating colossal ongoing budgets to local stop-smoking services.

Between 2021 and 2022, £68 million has been allocated to local authorities and £35 million to the NHS (National Health Service) to offer smoking cessation treatment to people admitted to hospitals by 2023.

In 2021, the United Kingdom offered over £1 million worth of e-cigarettes to patients with mental health problems, who are more vulnerable to smoking. In the same year, it is experimenting with homeless people. Dr Shraon Cox and Professor Lynne Dawkins set up a partnership with several institutions. The project involved distributing free e-cig starter kits to 32 centers for the homeless in 5 regions.

2023, the year of new actions!

This is the first national program to be launched anywhere in the world. In April 2023, the UK Department of Health announced that, as part of the program, almost one in five smokers will be offered a vape starter kit, along with the support they need to help them quit smoking.

1 million British smokers will receive the kit. The program is called "Swap to Stop". In addition, Neil O'Brien, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care in the UK, has made pregnant women a priority. The measure is to encourage them to stop smoking by offering them vouchers worth up to £400 (€450), as well as psychological support. In fact, the scheme has proved highly successful in a number of localities where tests have been carried out.

Moreover, following an NHS report showing a rise in the number of vapers in the 11-15 age group, O'Brien set up an "Illicit Vaping Brigade". With a fund of £3 million, this brigade will be tasked with preventing under-age access to vaping products, as well as combating illicit vape.

The country declines all efforts at repression and prohibition. The government rejected the proposal to "raise the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products by one year each year". This measure would ultimately have prohibited anyone in the country from buying tobacco. The Ministry of Health prefers to focus on help, support and the provision of cessation devices.

- Results and objectives

Today, the smoking rate has fallen to 13,3% in the UK, with 13% in England and 14.8% in Scotland. Despite these historically low figures for the country, there are still 5,4 million smokers, and one in four cancer deaths is smoking-related.

That's why all these measures are being put in place, and why the UK is fighting tobacco addiction so hard.

The government's target is to have 5% or fewer smokers by 2030. Sweden is on the verge of achieving this, with 5,6% of smokers by 2022.