UK BANS Cigarettes For Young Generations - Will That Fuel A Black Market?
The UK just passed a landmark tobacco bill that would permanently ban the legal sale of tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009 — an effort to create a “smoke-free generation.”
But is prohibition actually the best way to reduce smoking?
In this clip, I ask Dr. Matt Johnson — Johns Hopkins psychiatry professor and one of the world’s leading addiction researchers — what he makes of the UK’s new generational smoking ban. Matt is not a narrow scientist who can only speak on pharmacology — he has studied and written about drug policies for decades.
His answer is nuanced. Matt is clear that cigarettes are extraordinarily harmful and remain one of the leading preventable causes of death in the world. But he’s skeptical that outright bans are the right solution.
His concern: when you ban a product that many people still want, demand doesn’t magically disappear. It often moves underground. That can fuel black markets, empower criminal networks, reduce product safety, and create new harms — the same basic lesson from alcohol prohibition.
Matt argues for a more balanced approach: public education, age restrictions, harm reduction, and sensible limits on smoking in public spaces — without pretending the government can simply legislate addiction out of existence.
This is a fascinating conversation about cigarettes, addiction, prohibition, personal freedom, and where public health policy can go too far.
Watch this clip here:
Watch the full new episode discussing Matt’s new study testing psilocybin therapy for smoking addiction:
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Why should either of our govts understand anything about prohibition?! They don't care and they just think we are all retarded infants that must be managed. Here's another prohibition that they could care less that it's INCREASED overdoses by over 900%. No that's not a typo. They've banned opioids and pushed this nonexistent crisis SO FAR that we now have Tylenol only orthopedic surgeons and cardiac surgeons doing the same. And more. It didn't end there. They need to get out of the way. I'm so sick to death of it
UK made a big step in the right direction in this case, sometimes the truth is unpopular. Ironic how delusion by the concept of FREE-DUMB can make some folks cheer for having to breathe other people's disgusting second-hand smoke and endanger their own health (and the smokers' health) just so that tobacco companies can rake in billions...