Five Essential Actions for a Healthier Britain Under Labour
Addiction Economy Thought for Today - 5 essential actions a Labour Government must take to help build a healthier Britain
The Labour Party’s key Mission to ‘Improve the NHS’ strangely puts the NHS at the heart of our public health problems, not the addictive products driving the preventable diseases which overwhelm it.
Curtailing the impact of Addiction Economy industries and their products is the key to a healthier Britain. Here are 5 essential actions they need to take:
PUT THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO HEALTH AHEAD OF COMPANIES' RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY
The problem is not the NHS, but the negative impacts of addictive products. Public interest focused regulation should reduce the power and impacts of companies selling cigarettes, vapes, alcohol, unhealthy and ultra-processed foods, gambling, social media and computer games.
PASS THE SMOKING & VAPING BILL BEFORE 2026
Labour should re-attach vaping to smoking. Mandate standardised packaging for vapes, limit flavours to 6 max - and limit all advertising and promotion except that which advocates vapes as a quitting aid for smokers. ASAP, not end 2026 as promised by Tories.
FUND VAPING UNADDICTION SUPPORT NOW
Many children and young adults feel dependent on their vapes and want to stop, but don’t know how or where to go for help. Bespoke services for young people must be made available as soon as possible through the NHS.
Many smokers want to quit nicotine altogether, but healthcare professionals don’t have guidance on quitting vapes to support this need. They can't see beyond vapes as a solution, when in reality non-technological solutions work as well, and mostly better.
PREVENT BUSINESS LOBBYING FOR ALL ADDICTIVE INDUSTRIES
The widespread undermining of policy action by lobbying and disinformation from companies in vaping, ultra-processed food and gambling must be stopped.
Labour must tighten rules on lobbying and prevent the widespread practice of companies influencing regulation in their favour at the expense of the public interest.
INCORPORATE ADDICTION SUPPORT INTO MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT
We see addiction as ‘an act of self-care gone wrong.’ Most people experiment with an addictive product to calm them down, pick them up, help them fit in, or stand out & to cope with other social and personal stresses. Because the product is addictive by design, after a while they many find they can’t feel normal without it.
It is obvious then that addiction is fundamentally a mental health issue. But bizarrely, current government policy mean that mental health services have to turn away people with any addiction & cannot provide mental health services until they become unaddicted.
This is bad healthcare, cruel & pointless. Government policy must change to allow mental health support to addicted people as a matter of urgency.
A little more detail of our Recommendations here:
https://lnkd.in/enfmgyNJ