# FILE NAME: 00001346.soc
# TITLE: Should we raise the smoking age to 21? [0c3cf6073327c41d19b432a92b1ada3c]
# DESCRIPTION: 
# DATA TYPE: soc
# MODIFICATION TYPE: original
# RELATES TO: 
# RELATED FILES: 
# PUBLICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# MODIFICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# NUMBER ALTERNATIVES: 4
# NUMBER VOTERS: 5
# NUMBER UNIQUE ORDERS: 4
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 1: Statement 1 - In general, the group was in favour of raising the smoking age to 21. This would help reduce the number of teenagers taking up smoking. The only concern was that this might increase the black market in tobacco sales.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 2: Statement 2 - No. We should be abolishing the sale of tobacco products altogether. Raising the age limit will not stop teenagers smoking.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 3: Statement 3 - In general, the group was in favour of raising the smoking age to 21. Although it was recognised that there may be some risk of increase in black market sales of tobacco products to younger people, this would be outweighed by the benefits of reducing the uptake of smoking by young people and reducing the exposure of non-smokers to tobacco smoke. The group felt that a full ban on smoking would be unworkable, but that other measures such as teaching about the risks of smoking and providing good advertising of other alternatives to smoking would also be useful.
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 4: Statement 4 - We should raise the smoking age to 21 and this should be applied to vaping as well. We believe that this would be beneficial to young people as they would be more mature and less likely to start smoking. The only downside of this would be that it would likely increase the black market of tobacco sales. The consensus view of the group was reached by first discussing the opinions of each individual participant. The group then discussed the pros and cons of each opinion and came to the conclusion that the opinions of participants 1, 2 and 4 were the most sensible and therefore the group agreed with them.
2: 3,4,1,2
1: 1,3,4,2
1: 2,1,3,4
1: 2,3,1,4