I fully support this, but sadly there will be kids to whom possession and the smoking of cigarettes will be even more a sign of the utmost coolness. And, as I understand it there will be a time when a 35 year old can buy cigarettes but a 34 year old can't. That's going to be interesting.
New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
31–40 of 162 posts
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#32I fully support this, but sadly there will be kids to whom possession and the smoking of cigarettes will be even more a sign of the utmost coolness. And, as I understand it there will be a time when a 35 year old can buy cigarettes but a 34 year old can't. That's going to be interesting.
Here’s the problem with tobacco. It becomes a public expense when the community has to pay the health bill. The same arguments that people who refuse COVID vaccines should be cut off from the community (jobs, commerce, etc) applies to tobacco. Tobacco costs lives and can inflict damage on those not personally using.
Funny how that is the exact same problem as with exercise, diet, driving, and just generally existing in a society.
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#33The price increases (10% per year since 2011) have created a market for stolen and counterfeit cigarettes already. Creating a slow-roll prohibition will not stop people wanting to smoke tobacco products - in fact, previous evidence (e.g. alcohol and cannabis as things most people know about) shows that people are motivated to partake by the very idea of it being illicit. The product of US prohibition was the creation…
The trend is pretty good, and numbers are steadily falling. E-cigarettes have been vowing though. The below stats obviously pre-date the change announced.
https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/annual-update-key-res...
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#34I fully support this, but sadly there will be kids to whom possession and the smoking of cigarettes will be even more a sign of the utmost coolness. And, as I understand it there will be a time when a 35 year old can buy cigarettes but a 34 year old can't. That's going to be interesting.
Here’s the problem with tobacco. It becomes a public expense when the community has to pay the health bill. The same arguments that people who refuse COVID vaccines should be cut off from the community (jobs, commerce, etc) applies to tobacco. Tobacco costs lives and can inflict damage on those not personally using.
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#35The amount of support for drug prohibition in this thread really surprises me. Why shouldn’t an adult have the freedom to smoke and put themselves at high risk of lung cancer? If it’s “for their own good”, what makes the government the best entity to decide what’s good for one’s self? I hope lives are saved, but dang, it just hurts me a little bit to see personal liberty curbed. There’s no way this will result in an…
Nice mountains New Zealand, wish I could have a smoke on one of them, you know, like Gandalf.
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#36I fully support this, but sadly there will be kids to whom possession and the smoking of cigarettes will be even more a sign of the utmost coolness. And, as I understand it there will be a time when a 35 year old can buy cigarettes but a 34 year old can't. That's going to be interesting.
Here’s the problem with tobacco. It becomes a public expense when the community has to pay the health bill. The same arguments that people who refuse COVID vaccines should be cut off from the community (jobs, commerce, etc) applies to tobacco. Tobacco costs lives and can inflict damage on those not personally using.
When was the last time an ER or ICU was closed to new patients because of lung cancer? The problem with COVID denialism isn't that they impose the usual sort of healthcare costs but that they produce correlated emergencies which strain the hospital beyond its usual operating capacity.
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#37The price increases (10% per year since 2011) have created a market for stolen and counterfeit cigarettes already. Creating a slow-roll prohibition will not stop people wanting to smoke tobacco products - in fact, previous evidence (e.g. alcohol and cannabis as things most people know about) shows that people are motivated to partake by the very idea of it being illicit. The product of US prohibition was the creation…
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#38The amount of support for drug prohibition in this thread really surprises me. Why shouldn’t an adult have the freedom to smoke and put themselves at high risk of lung cancer? If it’s “for their own good”, what makes the government the best entity to decide what’s good for one’s self? I hope lives are saved, but dang, it just hurts me a little bit to see personal liberty curbed. There’s no way this will result in an…
FWIW, it's easier to justify when the government pays for expensive healthcare bills that ensue. Like making helmets and seatbelts mandatory, etc.
I know people who are mad at helmet-less cyclists because they will cost tax money if they have an accident: it isn't only their personal life they put on the line, they're risking other people's money. However small the final amount is on an individual level, it adds up. In the US, there are talks of making voluntarily unvaccinated patients fit their entire Covid-19 hospitalization bill.
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fully support the spirit of this legislation, because I'm a recovered nicotine addict and I wish I had never been granted access to nicotine when I first experimented with it. > Some people will never receive the access in the first place This simply isn't true. People will purchase nicotine from older people, while that's still possible, and then there will be a blossoming bootleg nicotine market. We've seen prohi…
I agree that tobacco access will drip down over to the younger generations, however, should a decent percentage of stores or users comply with this: 1. Market will shrink, making tobacco more difficult to obtain for current users and suppliers 2. Population will age, and it will become harder and harder for new generations to obtain access. 3. At some point, the policy might be considered excessive and abolished. How…
Re: New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life
#40I fully support this, but sadly there will be kids to whom possession and the smoking of cigarettes will be even more a sign of the utmost coolness. And, as I understand it there will be a time when a 35 year old can buy cigarettes but a 34 year old can't. That's going to be interesting.
I can't support any legislation that so blatantly discriminates against a whole class of people. People should be treated equally in the eyes of the law.