Meeting of the Parliament 01 December 2015
First, the confession: I was a smoker. I started smoking when I was 14, and not because of advertising or parental influence—my parents did not smoke. There might have been a bit of peer pressure, but I was never given to being influenced by that. However, I started smoking at the age of 14.
Over the years, I have given up many times, sometimes for long periods. On Christmas eve last year I bit the bullet and decided to quit the fags again. I decided to give up cigarettes because I was beginning to cough in the mornings and I felt that smoking was rather detrimental to my health.
I switched to electronic cigarettes. In my opinion, nicotine vapour products, as they are described in the bill, have—in the main—kept me on the straight and narrow and away from cigarettes since Christmas eve. I have to admit that I still have cravings for cigarettes almost daily. Today’s debate is not particularly helpful in that regard.
Although in the past I managed to quit by going cold turkey, I always ended up returning to cigarettes. There is little doubt in my mind that electronic cigarettes have helped me to quit my more than 20-a-day cigarette habit and cut down on my nicotine intake. I have to say that I feel much healthier than I did prior to 24 December last year.
I am not alone in that regard. In its systematic review of e-cigarette use, the Cochrane Collaboration found that almost one in 10 smokers who used e-cigarettes were able to quit smoking at up to one year and that around a third had cut down on their smoking. The trial data showed no adverse effects from short to medium-term use of e-cigarettes. I firmly believe that young people should be discouraged from smoking and vaping. However, adult vapers who are using e-cigarettes to quit or cut down on their smoking should not be demonised for their efforts.
A constituent wrote to me recently because he is scared of a possible vaping ban. He said:
“I used to smoke, but I haven’t had a cigarette since 01/10/14”—
members should note how we all remember the day when we quit. He went on:
“I started with the white ecigs, now I am onto more complicated mods and tanks. I stopped smoking because I have angina and vaping seems okay, in the terms that I can breathe easier.”
The bill’s provisions on a minimum purchase age for NVPs of 18, prohibition of sales from vending machines, dealer registration and advertising restrictions do not bother me one iota. However, we have seen attempts in this Parliament to demonise those who are using electronic cigarettes, with some suggesting, based on scant evidence, that the devices are the alcopops of the nicotine world. Of course, this Parliament banned the use of e-cigarettes on the campus on the basis that it was following the precautionary principle. Could that be construed as demonising people for their efforts to try and quit smoking? I hope not.
I intend to support the bill at stage 1, but I would have grave concerns if any attempts were made at stage 2 to restrict vaping. I hope that colleagues will not try to use the bill to achieve other ends.
Some folk have suggested that e-cigarettes have renormalised smoking, but that runs counter to the review that I mentioned when I intervened on Stewart Maxwell. As I said, the review, which was carried out by Public Health England, stated that smoking prevalence has declined in adults and young people since e-cigarettes were introduced to the market. I, along with everyone else in this chamber, want to see smoking prevalence continue to decline, but I have a fear that, if vapers are the next target, that decline will not be as rapid as we would wish. Indeed, we may well see some people moving back on to cigarettes if they have to do the things that smokers have to do.
I want to pick up some of the issues in the debate and offer my own experience. Some folk have indicated that the smoking ban has led to people cutting down on their smoking. My own experience was somewhat different. When I was a smoker, I had no problem about going outside or doing all the rest of the things that smokers have become quite used to doing. However, one thing that happened when I went outside was that I did not just have one cigarette—I ended up having two cigarettes in a row. That increased my nicotine intake and certainly added to my cigarette bill.
I have absolutely no problem with having a smoking ban on hospital grounds. However, there is a need to have somewhere on the grounds—well away from entrances and other people—for patients to be able to go and smoke, rather than to see them signing themselves out of hospital at a time when they require treatment. Of course, the other alternative would be to allow them to vape.
15:48