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Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed

bbc.co.uk

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

#41

Post by zbentley »

gcanyon wrote: post #16

There are two separate issues here: 1. will this work (will the UK stop smoking) 2. is this something the UK government should be doing Setting aside 1 and looking at 2, it seems silly to me to point out that other things (alcohol) that cause problems and are not being restricted. You take the wins where you find them, and the government isn't a magical force that can impose its will on the people arbitrarily. This i…

> 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 restrictions exist.

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

#44

Post by Sweepi »

brador wrote: post #28
squigz wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the government's perspective, this may (or may not) be silly. But putting that aside, if a citizen supports banning cigarettes for people born after a certain date, but not alcohol, that certainly seems hypocritical to me.

We know the dangers of second hand smoke. Someone drinking near you does not impact your health.

iirc alcohol is the drug with the highest amount of 3rd party harm due to the high number of people beating their spouse, children and sometimes random strangers under the influence. (+ 3rd party property, car crashes, ...) Keep in mind this was evaluated with current laws, which bans most kinds of indoor-smoking.

Still a good idea to ban cigarettes and force people to consume their nicotine in healthier ways.

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

#45

Post by LtWorf »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #38
afavour wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see smoking as a separate category owing to the existence of second hand smoke. Smoking in a room with other people adversely affects those people. I think government is the correct body to be intervening in that scenario.

That's not a separate category, that's the general principle in a free society: There is a limit to "doing what you want" when it impacts others/imposes on them. That's why smoking is already heavily regulated in order to limit and minimise the impact that your choice has on others.

In sweden it's forbidden to smoke at public transport stops. Nobody cares though so you often have to choose between cancer or getting soaked.

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

#46

Post by hagbard_c »

brador wrote: post #28
squigz wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the government's perspective, this may (or may not) be silly. But putting that aside, if a citizen supports banning cigarettes for people born after a certain date, but not alcohol, that certainly seems hypocritical to me.

We know the dangers of second hand smoke. Someone drinking near you does not impact your health.

That is, until that person gets behind the wheel or on a (motor)bike and impacts you - and with that, your health - directly.

Having said that I don't like the nanny society which acts like it knows better. People sometimes want to do stupid things and I think they should be able to do so. They should also not burden society with the consequences of their stupid actions so smokers either pay in more for health insurance or get relegated to the bottom tier - e.g. "palliative care for smoking-induced illnesses, no life-extending treatments for smoking-related diseases". No smoking where it impacts others negatively - this includes minors living in their house - but if they want to smoke where it doesn't impact others just let them do it.

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

#47

Post by Sweepi »

alsetmusic wrote: post #33

As a former smoker (who quit for seven years and regrets taking it up again), and as a present-day vape user, wtf. This is a clear restriction on liberty. It may be stupid that I do it. Just like many stupid decisions (junk food included), it ought to be my right to decide how to live. Cut off production so cigarettes are no longer made or imported. Don't block me from them while letting others have them. (Not in UK)…

>This is a clear restriction on liberty.

So is banning the sale of leaded gasoline.

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

#48

Post by luizfzs »

awakeasleep wrote: post #8

Im curious how the industry allowed this. Seems like a tremendous amount of lobbying money would oppose it. There must be real story there, somewhere.

The real story may be that even despite heavy lobbying, they are trying to do something that has the potential to benefit the population, with the added benefit of reducing some of the load on health care system caused by this.

As we know, smoking can cause lots of problems, including for babies if the mother smokes during pregnancy.

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

#49

Post by tialaramex »

pixl97 wrote: post #25
joegibbs wrote: post #6

Drinking has been decided to be totally fine though, no need to ban that - probably because it's unfashionable to smoke, and the kind of people who come up with these laws find it uncouth. It will also be ridiculous in a few years when the UK inevitably decides to legalise marijuana - totally fine to smoke a joint, but don't you dare put any of that tobacco in it!

Nicotine is insanely addictive, so ya. Alcohol is very difficult to ban as you can take almost any kind of sugar feedstock and turn it into alcohol.

Right. Booze is straight up naturally occurring, albeit rare. That's why you get drunk monkeys and other wildlife. The animal is like "Actually this moldy fruit is pretty good" - they did absolutely nothing to manufacture booze but here it is.

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

#50

Post by subjectsigma »

Natural consequence of socialized medicine. If I’m paying for your healthcare then I (and by extension the state) get a say in basically every aspect of your life.

Time to ban alcohol, marijuana, Tylenol, fatty foods, sugar, candles, campfires, fireworks, food coloring, bicycles, playgrounds, cars, cell phones, and anything else that might be harmful

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