When will people finally quit smoking? An expert responds

Not so long ago, in reality, a person could light a cigarette in such disparate places as an airplane, a college class, a bar, a hospital, or the subway. When you arrived at a restaurant, they separated you between smokers and non-smokers, and if unfortunately you were anti-smoking And you were in the zone of the first ones, you knew that throughout the evening someone would light a cigarette and ruin your coffee, blowing the smoke in your face. In nightclubs, people burned each other with cigarettes without realizing it, and they complained that one day it would not be possible to smoke indoors, because that would mean that the smell of smoke would be replaced by that of the armpit.

Today all that sounds like Prehistory, at least in our country. The Law of December 2010, which in turn modified the previous one from 2005, was even more restrictive than its predecessor and prohibited smoking in any type of space for collective use or premises open to the public, other than outdoors. These are bad times, no doubt, for smokers, and they don't seem to be getting any better. According to Jefferies analysts, in 10 or 20 years there could be no smokers on the market, reports 'Medical Express'.

"If what is intended is a smoke-free environment, this will be achieved with the support of reduced risk products"

Governments and tobacco companies themselves could be in favor of this change, they indicate, since more and more countries are adopting objectives that aim to eradicate tobacco in almost all spaces, and companies push smokers to consume other products, such as oral nicotine or vaping. According to analyst Oswen Bennet: "If they remain united by change, in many countries there may not be a smoker within a generation. If the aim is for a smoke-free environment, this will be achieved with the support of risk products reduced".

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The confidential

They are not the only ones who think this way. The view that cigarettes are a thing of the past also sustains it Citigroup, which expects smoking to disappear by 2050 in United States, much of Europe, Australia, and much of Latin America if the downward trend observed in recent decades continues. "Smoking has been in decline for the past five decades due to social pressure, regulation and taxes," Citi analyst Adam Spielman wrote in a report.

"In 10 or 15 it could end its sale with the appropriate regulatory framework and the support of civil society"

In September, the CEO of Philip Morris (Marlboro manufacturing company), André Calantzopoulos, said something similar in a speech at the Concordia Summit: "A world in which cigarettes become obsolete is at our fingertips. In 10 or 15 they could end their sale with the appropriate regulatory framework and the support of the civil society ", although he pointed out that he did not see the absolute disappearance of tobacco as feasible. His words, therefore, coincide with those of Bennet.

Everyone agrees that alternatives to tobacco will set the key, on the one hand because they will become more popular, on the other, because some such as the electronic cigarette could be a slightly less harmful option for health by operating without combustion or paper, which in turn would be a step to quit smoking more easily. All of these reports are an interesting juxtaposition to the fact that many parts of the United States are taking steps to legalize cannabis use, while several states have already taken the plunge. It is not clear, however, if analysts are including marijuana use through smoking in their predictions.