Campaign highlights it is socially unacceptable for adults to buy children cigarettes

Adults who buy children cigarettes are being condemned for setting them up for a life of health and financial problems.

Youth charity Fast Forward said some adults think they are "doing young people a favour" when buying them tobacco.

The organisation has now launched a new campaign against what it calls proxy purchasing.

According to Ash Scotland 36 young people in Scotland take up smoking every day.

Fast Forward’s chief executive Alastair MacKinnon has pledged to support Scotland's charter for a Tobacco-free Generation - six principles laid down by Ash towards a smoke free nation.

The Scottish government aims to have a "smoke-free generation" in Scotland by 2034.

"Some adults think that they're doing young people a favour when they buy them tobacco - particularly if it happened for them when they were at school. But it's not a victimless crime,” said Mackinnon.

"We know from talking to teachers that in schools where smoking rates are high in the local community, cigarettes are sold to younger children by teen smokers in order to maintain their own smoking.

"Adults willing to buy tobacco for young people are really just carrying out the work of Big Tobacco. They're leading young people into addiction, long-term health problems and huge financial cost. It has to stop."

The number of young people smoking in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level since surveys began, after measures such as banning tobacco advertising, price increases and raising the age of purchasing cigarettes to 18.

Ash Scotland chief executive Sheila Duffy added: "The tobacco industry uses every trick in the book to snare new young people into becoming smokers, with the result that 36 children start smoking every day in Scotland. We mustn't do their job for them."