That assumes that this idea would actually work. I doubt that it will actually be challenging to get hold of cigarettes after this goes into place, there will almost certainly be a lot of shops that will still sell them to people who are under the minimum age. For it to work properly I think there would have to be a lot of money spent on enforcing it. Alternatively though, one could argue that even that is better than not having any measures put in place.
I think people are idiots and need to be protected from themselves in some circumstances.
Realistically though this sort of thing isn’t going to stop that, it will just push it underground leading to it being unregulated.
You could argue that about any law. The majority of people aren't going to start smoking if its not easily available to them
That assumes that this idea would actually work. I doubt that it will actually be challenging to get hold of cigarettes after this goes into place, there will almost certainly be a lot of shops that will still sell them to people who are under the minimum age. For it to work properly I think there would have to be a lot of money spent on enforcing it. Alternatively though, one could argue that even that is better than not having any measures put in place.