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Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

bbc.co.uk

341–350 of 430 posts

Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#341

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At least alcohol produces side effects that people enjoy. Smoking pretty much only has negative side effects once you get hooked.

Have you ever smoked? I feel like I only hear this sentiment from people that have never tried nicotine. Nicotine absolutely produces effects that people enjoy. Smokers don't just do it because they want to smell bad and look cool.

Yes, I smoked for a decade. The only noticeable effect it produces after a while is providing relief from nicotine withdrawal symptoms. It does feel similar to regaining focus or calming your nerves, so smokers trick themselves into thinking that's what it actually does. Nicotine is also way, way more addictive than alcohol. I've gone months without alcohol with almost no mental effort but day 3 of quitting smoking was probably one of the most miserable and challenging of my life.

Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> other things (alcohol) that cause problems and are not being restricted Alcohol is heavily restricted, though. You can't sell it to minors, younger minors can't drink it in public, you can't sell/buy/make it above a certain proof, you can only resell it from authorized distributors, it is taxes, and so on. Sure, banning cigarettes for a specific generation is a much more stringent restriction, but plenty of other r…

what if they told you your kids would never be allowed to have a drink?

Maybe start by tracking consumption against their ID.

Tho that creates significant black market incentive.

Other option is only serving ultra light drinks (2.5% beer, cider, sangria or cocktail).

Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#343
post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a great way to avoid alcohol addiction, prevent drunk driving deaths, and save countless generations from being negatively impacted in one way or another by alcohol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_Stat...

Different apples. Cessation vs never starting is completely different.

A lot of young people don't drink anymore anyway tho. It's not as extreme as it sounds.

As someone who's been sober for only 16 months, not sure how I feel about this. It is surely unrealistic.

Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#345
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just whataboutism, but the UK also regulates sugar in fairly draconian ways too, for example. There are good reasons to target smoking given how addictive and deadly it is. Nicotine is fairly unique in this regard.

It's reductio ad absurdum. Obesity is really bad for you and strains public health services. Should the government enforce a cap on caloric intake?

No but you can make sure only healthy desserts are being sold. You can only stuff so much carrot cake.

Decent labelling could be a start. Even when shopping online there's basically next to 0 of actual data of what goes into product.

Forget trying to create a healthy shopping AI agent.

Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds good to me...

In huge agreement with you. But can it be done in a different way that doesn't create the black market problems of the prohibition era? (Do we have a better chance now with gen z's aversion to drugs/alcohol?)

Don't mistake media narratives about small percentage point swings for mass momentum. Especially when those swings are probably not even real: e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/05/gen-z-binge-...

Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#347
post #317

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Would a calorie cap be reasonable?

> Would a calorie cap be reasonable? A legislation that isn't possible to enforce is not reasonable, no. Banning cigarettes = easy to enforce. Banning sugar in soft drinks = easy to enforce. Limiting how many calories you can consume = how do you propose we do that? Do we even have the technology to track what someone eats? And do we carve out exceptions for athletes? If there was a way to cap calories without surgic…

Make a lolly bag $100 and not $1 and your problem is solved

Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s awesome to decide what your children, once they are adults, can’t do? You do realize that this is what basically every single law in existence does, right? That my kids, and likely yours, once they're adults, can't drive under the influence, rob a bank, impersonate a cop, lie under oath, exercise medecine without a licence, walk downtown naked, jaywalk, evade taxes, criticize the King?

I've seen confusion about this before with people that I know. You tell them it's against the law to drink, and they'll point out that it's restrictive and controlling. You tell them it's against the law to commit tax fraud, and they'll have no objection. Why? I think, at least with the people that I know, it's related to what they want to be able to do. They want to be able to drink alcohol, so it feels controlling…

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Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed yes. We have extremely large governmental departments regulating what can and can not be sold as food.

Not the quantity of food though. Deaths attributed to obesity are higher than those of smoking in recent years. Smoking rates are falling, but obesity continues to climb in the UK.

Trans fats are banned in restaurants in Canada.

Crazy food additives and preservatives are banned in Europe that are common in the US.

https://foodbabe.com/food-in-america-compared-to-the-u-k-why...

Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

#350

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No, but my point is this argument isn't really consistently applied. The excuse about a law made specifically to apply against people that can't vote is quite popular and accepted. The cockfighting law was cheered by most the mainland US, while Puerto Rico desperately fought against it, though they weren't able to get cert in SCOTUS to challenge it. There was never really much of any concern of "wait, Puerto Rico has…

I'll happily endorse the idea that double standards and hypocrisy are the true evil if that's what you're getting at.

That seems like worth endorsing, along with the notion of disgust for legislating grown non-convicted adults without any representation.
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