Piffle – Voting Age Should Be 16, Smoking Age 21

That human children gradually mature into being adults is true enough. There is no one day when that’s that and all is responsible and copacetic. Just ask any wife. And yet we do still have to draw those lines in the sand. Who is adult enough to vote? Who is adult enough to decide upon their own health care treatment? Who is adult enough to drink or smoke?

As we all know the United States gets this really rather wrong. Someone 17 years and 364 days is creating child pr0n which people can and will go to jail for viewing let alone possessing, someone a day older is exercising their constitutional rights to be banged upon camera. That’s reasonable enough, there does have to be some legal line. And yet that same bloke doing the business still has to wait another 3 years to be able to have a drink.

Britain risks that sort of nonsense:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Smokers will be banned from buying cigarettes until they are 21 as part of measures to improve public health being considered by the government. An influential cross-party group of MPs has proposed raising the minimum smoking age and introducing a levy on big tobacco companies to fund measures to encourage people to quit and to prevent youngsters taking up the habit. [/perfectpullquote]

It’s 16 to bang someone, 18 to vote and drink and 21 to smoke? Nonsense. And do note that other campaign currently going on, to lower the voting age to 16. Someone’s competent to vote for Jezza five years before they’re sensible enough to buy a packet of fags? No, this is one of those things where we simply say Puff Off.