ASH Scotland urges the Scottish Government to ensure its refreshed Tobacco Action Plan is bold and ambitious

A year on from the publication of the Khan Review, which was drafted by Dr Javed Khan OBE who was commissioned by the UK Government to consider policies to deliver a smokefree England, ASH Scotland is urging the Scottish Government to ensure its refreshed Tobacco Action Plan later this year is both bold and ambitious.

Sheila Duffy, Chief Executive of health charity ASH Scotland, said: “Tobacco remains the biggest preventable killer of people in Scotland, causing 9,000 deaths and 100,000 hospitalisations each year, and this demands an acceleration of progress towards taking on the profiteering tobacco industry and its lethal products.

“With the Scottish Government refreshing its tobacco action plan later this year, it is vital that Scotland matches the level of bold and ambitious measures set by New Zealand, Australia and Canada in recent months, if we are to achieve the goal of a tobacco-free generation by 2034. We need measures to be introduced that will save lives and address the substantial inequalities in our communities facing the greatest challenges during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

“Removing addictive nicotine from cigarettes, adding health warnings to cigarettes, reducing the visibility and availability of tobacco and related products, implementing evidence-based public health campaigns to motivate people who use tobacco to quit smoking and providing increased easily accessible person-centred support to those in communities with a high prevalence of tobacco use are just some of the measures that merit strong consideration.

“Through its new tobacco action plan, Scotland has a great opportunity to re-establish itself as a world-leading public health nation. It’s time for a tobacco-free Scotland.”