Yesterday's Scottish Government press release about its new tobacco control strategy contained a note about NHS Fife’s anti-smoking initiative.
Bizarrely it included the following statement:
The I-Don’t project surveyed 1500 students and showed that while students thought 75% of their peers smoked, in reality the number who smoked was less than 30%.
Think about that for a minute. Anti-smoking campaigners increasingly expect us to accept the opinions of children when it comes to developing tobacco control policies.
We are told, for example, that there is evidence that plain packaging will work because, shown an example of an Australian style 'plain' pack featuring a grotesque graphic image, a substantial percentage of children say it will put their peers off smoking.
In Ireland (if I remember correctly) a survey of 8-15 year olds found that a majority of children thought their peers were less likely to smoke as a result of the display ban. This was used as 'evidence' that the display ban has been a success in Ireland.
However, as the I-Don't project demonstrates, what students think and what happens in reality are two very different things.
And another thing:
The aim of the I-Don't project is to "prevent 16 to 24 year olds from taking up smoking by showing that non-smoking is the ‘norm’".
Prevent? As my son (who is 18) keeps telling me, once you're 18 you are officially an adult and can make your own decisions. It is legal to sell tobacco to people once they're 18 so why is a government funded campaign trying to 'prevent' people aged 18-24 from taking up smoking?
Educate, by all means, but in my dictionary 'prevent' is defined as making someone unable to do something.