Prioritising smoking cessation is an "attack on choice and personal responsibility"

Thu 6th September, 2018

Prioritising smoking cessation with a view to reducing smoking prevalence in England to less than five per cent by 2030 is an attack on choice and personal responsibility, says Forest.

Responding to a statement released today by Public Health England, Simon Clark, director of Forest, said:

"Millions of people smoke not because they're addicted but because they enjoy it.

"No-one should be forced to stop smoking because of excessive regulations, punitive taxation or creeping prohibition.

"Prioritising smoking cessation in order to create a 'smoke free' society would be an attack on choice and personal responsibility.

"If adults choose to smoke in full knowledge of the health risks and don't want to quit that choice must be respected."

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