Tobacco laws in the West are becoming increasingly strict But amid all this, smoking cigarettes seems to be cool again

The United Kingdom approved a particularly strict tobacco measure: anyone born after January 1, 2009 will never be allowed to purchase cigarettes or electronic smoking devices. At the same time, the law expands restrictions on smoking bans in public spaces, including sensitive areas such as parks intended for children and outdoor areas near schools and healthcare facilities.

The measure is also, and above all, a response to the economic repercussions that tobacco has on the British hospital system: in England, smoking is responsible each year for over 400,000 hospital admissions and more than 64,000 deaths. The economic impact is equally significant for healthcare facilities, with around £3 billion spent annually to treat diseases linked to tobacco use.

The United Kingdom is not the only one restricting cigarettes

The measure approved by the British parliament is not the first of its kind. As early as 2022, New Zealand had introduced a law that provided for various smoking-related bans, including the prohibition on purchasing cigarettes and similar products for people born after 2008. The measure also included further restrictions to make cigarettes more expensive and less accessible to adults.

An initial estimate of the effects of New Zealand’s anti-smoking law predicted, over a twenty-year period, savings equivalent to about €700 million for the national healthcare system.

Last July, France also introduced measures to limit tobacco consumption. In the country, it is now, for example, forbidden to smoke in outdoor public spaces potentially frequented by minors—including beaches, parks, and public transport stops, as well as areas near schools and sports facilities. In this case, the aim of the initiative is to achieve by 2032 «a smoke-free generation», as stated by former French Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau, one of the main promoters of the law.

But is smoking cigarettes becoming fashionable again?

Beyond England, France, and New Zealand, similar bans have been introduced in Austria, where smoking is prohibited in children’s play areas, in several Spanish seaside locations (such as Ibiza, Mallorca, and Barcelona, where smoking on the beach is not allowed), and in Italian cities like Turin and Milan, where smoking is not permitted in parks or at public transport stops, among other places.

Despite this trend, in recent years smoking cigarettes seems to have become glamorous again - somewhat like in the 1990s, when smoking was more widespread, accepted, and associated with the star system. This is also demonstrated by the popularity of Instagram accounts such as Cigfluencers, which, with nearly 100,000 followers, collects photos of celebrities smoking cigarettes, with the aim of celebrating them.

Cigarettes are also increasingly present in American films and TV series. In Hollywood, this is considered a rather unusual phenomenon: in recent decades, thanks to very impactful anti-smoking campaigns, tobacco use had almost completely disappeared from the big screen. This comeback worries experts and associations, who fear a new normalization of the habit and the risk that smoking cigarettes may once again be perceived as something cool, undermining the progress made in recent years by many Western governments.