If it was such a simple fix to stop young kids taking up smoking by changing the wrapping, I would be all for it. I have watched my own teenagers go through this and have asked them their thoughts on the plain packaging.
They say it will make no difference. They wish it would too, as they do not want their own children to take it up.
Marijuana comes in plain packaging. I asked one ex-user and was told it is wrapped in foil or a zip lock plastic bag. And yet see the link below from Drug Alert as the packaging is clearly not stopping it's use:
"The following gives you some comparisons of Australia drug usage verses other English speaking countries and is based on the percentage of population.
* Australian and New Zealand have the second highest usage of marijuana, Canada the highest and USA the third highest * Australians have by far the highest usage of ecstasy and New Zealand the second highest. Australia's usage is double that of the UK and four times that of the USA * Australian's consumption of cocaine is twice that of New Zealand * Australian's usage of amphetamine (speed) is the highest, New Zealand is second, with USA and UK being equal third * UK has the highest use of opiates, Ireland and the USA are equal second and Australia and New Zealand equal third"
"Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Australia, with a reported one-third of all Australians aged 14 or older (33.5%, about 5.8 million) having tried cannabis and 1.6 million using it in the past year.[1] Professor and Director of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) Jan Copeland estimates that 750,000 Australians use cannabis every week, and approximately 300,000 smoke it on a daily basis.[2] Australia has one of the highest cannabis prevalence rates in the world, and research shows that Australia's indigenous population has markedly higher levels of cannabis use. "
This terrible drug can damage the developing teenage brain.
Looking at the above stats for an illegal substance that comes in very ordinary packaging, why would anyone think the packaging alone will stop kids smoking cigarettes?
