New Zealand plans to make it illegal for kids to buy cigarettes – for life

I kind of torn between two opinions here.

On the one hand - an adult should be able to make their own choices regarding something like this. I mean, we're all slowly decaying day-by-day and I can understand that one might want to live while their alive and suffer the consequences of a shorter lifespan. Also sometimes one could argue it's actually encouraged not to become obsessed with _never_ doing anything that is bad for your health, we all accept that there's value in stress reduction to sometimes just go out and have an intense night with friends, order in some junk food or just do something really risky for the adrenaline rush.

On the other hand - the intense addiction factor of cigarettes is really quite terrifying and is really unprecedented when compared to other unhealthy habits. A lifelong smoker who quit once told me that the Cigarette, is more like a companion. There in the good times, (celebrate, have a cig), there in the bad, there when you wake up, take a break, or call it a day. They are optimized to be a lifelong companion and the amount of suffering caused by them (directly - to the smoker and indirectly - to loved ones impacted by their addiction) is significant enough (IMHO) to warrant questioning of its impact to human life. Alone 80-90% of lung cancer deaths are attributed to smoking [1], that isn't some minor thing at all. And although for some people cigarettes may start or may always be just a source of relaxation or indulgence occasionally on a night out, once the addiction and habits set in, it becomes a point of stress and suffering when they are not available - which IMO negates any benefits they might provide at the start. You also don't see this sort of wide spread addiction with things like cigars - which to me is a dead giveaway that they are not just some form of indulgence.

I personally would love to see them disappear and never return. I think they provide far more suffering to the individual and individuals surrounding smokers than any of the benefits could ever hope to offset.

If that's not possible, then I'd be satisfied if the addictive substances in them were highly regulated and reduced or removed entirely.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/risk_factors.htm

Almost all evidence suggests that decriminalization or even full legalization is the path for substance legislation. Anyone believing criminalization to be an efficacious way to reducing drug addiction or related damages has either buried their head in the sand to almost every study and real world example, or has ulterior motives.

>There's no upside for an individual in consuming their first cigarette

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6018192/

>Preclinical models and human studies have demonstrated that nicotine has cognitive-enhancing effects. Attention, working memory, fine motor skills and episodic memory functions are particularly sensitive to nicotine’s effects. Recent studies have demonstrated that the α4, β2, and α7 subunits of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) participate in the cognitive-enhancing effects of nicotine. Imaging studies have been instrumental in identifying brain regions where nicotine is active, and research on the dynamics of large-scale networks after activation by, or withdrawal from, nicotine hold promise for improved understanding of the complex actions of nicotine on human cognition.

Not that I advocate for smoking, or that I think it needs to be justified with some kind of 'benefit' to not be outlawed, but one could argue it does have demonstrable cognitive effects that some find desirable. Even if it didn't, some people just find it enjoyable and don't give a shit about the health effects. Given these facts we could replace the word 'cigarettes' in your post with 'coffee' and it'd make just as much sense, but that's a drug you (probably) find enjoyable personally so we won't be seeing any calls for criminalizing that any time soon.

> Its a pretty miserable and quite deadly addictive narcotic.

Nicotine is a stimulant. The exact opposite of a narcotic.

> I can't imagine people willing to organize into small secret clubs to smoke a few cigs

You mean like what underage kids already do?