It's been on the cards for some time now, but soon the government will be rolling out its increased measures to tackle smoking.
These new regulations will include compulsory unbranded packaging, a ban on menthol cigarettes and smaller packets of fags going out of production. Ten-packs of cigarettes are due to be phased out from 21st May, while menthol cigs will be thrown back into the proverbial fire from where they came by the year 2020.
And for good reason. In 2014, NHS records show that there were 78,000 deaths in the UK alone which were estimated to be smoking-related. 2014 and 2015 combined saw a whopping 1.7 million admissions to hospital for conditions which could have been caused by cigarettes. That's an average of 4.7 thousand admissions per day into an already severely overstretched healthcare system.
However, cigarettes aren't the only legal substance to be wreaking havoc on the health of the British public.
"Alcohol is shown to be the most dangerous drug in terms of harm caused - including violence on our streets and domestic violence," Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk, former Care Minister and party Health Spokesperson, told LADbible.
So, why is it the case that the UK is still living in the dark ages when it comes to the legality of a substance which is proven to be significantly less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol combined?
In November 2016, the USA experienced two very different political events. On the one hand (and somewhat blatantly obviously) the US elected a big, blonde, republican, billionaire business tycoon and reality TV star as their chosen leader. Conversely, in the same week, Americans in California, Nevada and Massachusetts took the liberal move of voting in favour of the legalisation of recreational marijuana - joining a growing number of states to do so in the process.
This massive victory in the fight for legalisation saw these states joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska - all of which now allow their citizens to use weed for fun. These changes now mean that around a quarter of Americans will soon be able to purchase cannabis in a completely legal, regulated and taxable manner.
However, in the UK, things are still very different. Although some people are pushing for change.
Advocates of legalisation in the UK argue that the potential societal and economic benefits are undeniable.
As the situation exists in Britain currently, criminals are running the industry.
"Legalisation of cannabis would take hundreds of millions of pounds away from organised criminals, who currently profit from the illegal market," MP Lamb told us. If the industry was taxable it could be feeding vast amounts of money back into our crippled economy, as opposed to into the pockets of crooks.
"[Legalisation] would be in the interests of public health as well, because you could regulate potency," Lamb continued. "At present you have no idea what you are buying.
"It would also end the ludicrous criminalisation of particularly young people. Getting a criminal record for cannabis use - even if it is just accepting a caution - can blight your career!"
In the other corner of the ring are those who argue that, while it may be demonstrably less harmful than cigarettes and could even have medicinal applications, weed is still far from healthy.
After all, Opium poppy derivatives have medical uses, but that doesn't make heroin a vegetable. Studies have linked the development of mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and depression to regular cannabis use. Statistics suggest that regular users were twice as likely to have these conditions, compared to non-users. However, this doesn't explain whether the drug was responsible for the onset of these conditions, or whether the sufferers were merely using it as a means of DIY medication.
Another common argument against legalisation is that it will make the drug more accessible and therefore encourage more people to use it. Those who might previously have been a bit iffy about climbing into a Vauxhall Corsa with a guy called Tyrone who has a gold tooth to get a 20 bag, could be more inclined to try it out, if it were available in their local Boots.
Perhaps the most widely repeated case in the against argument is that marijuana is a gateway drug. The fear that one puff on a joint might somehow turn an innocent 16-year-old kid into Pete Doherty is rife amongst certain parents.
To back their concerns up, research conducted in New Zealand did find that people who had tried cannabis were more than 60 times more likely to try other drugs - although that may say more about the type of people who smoke cannabis rather than about the drug itself. We'll let you draw your own conclusions.
In terms of cigarettes, what lies ahead? Weed remains illegal, so could an outright ban on cigarettes ever be brought into effect? MP Lamb doesn't think.
"Prohibition would have the same disastrous unintended consequences as I have described in relation to cannabis," he said.
"It should be up to people to decide whether to take the risk of smoking. But I do favour sensible regulation. These measures have helped to reduce significantly the rate of smoking."
So, while we may be a long way off an end to the drugs argument, the smoking debate seems to already be reaching its conclusion.
Advert
Words: Paddy Maddison
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Alcohol