Summary
The UK has introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, aiming to make it illegal for future generations to buy cigarettes. The bill proposes gradually raising the minimum smoking age, so those born after January 1, 2009, will never be able to purchase tobacco legally.
It also includes restrictions on vape flavors and packaging to prevent youth addiction and bans smoking in certain outdoor spaces, though pub beer gardens are exempt.
Supported by the Labour Party’s majority, the legislation seeks to create a “smoke-free U.K.” and combat smoking-related deaths.
This is literally an idea I had when I was 16 years old. I was pretty dumb when I was 16.
Prohibition has been such a huge success. The only option is expanding it! \s
Not here in the USA! With Trump, we’re going to recycle cigarettes into baby clothes and we’ll be using PTFE to bond the fibers together for a strong cancer healthcare company.
MACA - Make America Cancer Again
🥱
More black markets aren’t the solution.
Yah, banning drugs works great. And doing it in the most cowardly way possible really elevates that.
Do you know what I’d like to see?
Instead of banning them, ban the extraction of profit on producing and selling them. Turn them into an entirely recreational market. I’d love to see the outcome of trying that.
I like the way you think.
Capitalists would rather there be a ban so that proles don’t realize how much they’re getting f**ked.
Wouldn’t that just push sales into the black market? Unless the government nationalized the sale of cigarettes, which seems… not great, if they believe in smoking cessation
No, it wouldn’t
People working in and supporting the industry would work and consume as they always have.
It’s the business owners that would be hurting, as their entire existence depends on siphoning off the excess people are willing to pay for products and services.
Prices wouldn’t even go up. Businesses already charge the most people are willing to pay.
I am just wondering who would do all the work of warehousing, distributing, etc., if there was no profit motive.
Nonprofits can still have paid employees, it’s just that the company doesn’t profit; there’s no owner or shareholders extracting excess value.
That reminds me of REI in America. They’re technically a member-owned co-op, but they’re definitely a huge corporation making buckets for somebody, probably the leadership. So a non profit version of that
No one would farm it for profit and no one would import it for profit. Ends up with people still selling it for profit in a black or parallel market.
Think of it like clubs for tobacco enthusiasts. Ideally you would have a club with one super knowledgeable person, split the costs of growing and his time and split the the results on potentially various types of products.
That makes sense to me
So kind of like how farm cooperatives work (I think?)?
There’s a guy at the farmers market that offers “shares” of cows. I can’t remember the details but you pay for a certain “guaranteed” pounds of beef plus sausage made from other parts (not guaranteed to be one cow), a long with some other meats (chicken, etc). When the cow is slaughtered, you get your meat.
Similar idea. In a lot of states it could be done locally with many tobacco strains.
I like the idea, but the people who do split the animal deals around me take advantage of their customers… wish I have had better experiences. Used to be a couple neighbors just paid a butcher on their off hours…
Sounds good to me, tbh. Increasing health for everyone involved, reducing costs on medical services. I think New Zealand had something similiar? Instead of an outright ban affecting everyone this is slowly phased out, so young kids probably won’t even miss it.
NZ reversed that ban 1 year after announcing it and decades before it would have gone into effect.
It’s part of Labour’s platform. Also right now, even for pubs and beer gardens, there’s a license to restrict the number of people that can smoke outdoors.
Next do beer!
I dare you Parliament.In England? Lol
Well done UK!
I think cigarettes should be put behind a prescription wall. If you are addicted, a doctor can help you quit. In the mean time, they can make sure you keep having the nicotine delivery system you’re used to.
And then what about everything outside of that ridiculous context? Arrest people for possession of a plant? That’s always been a good idea.
Tobacco is important to people. If you ban it, there will be a black market. Especially for something like a plant that can simply be grown.
Ban the sale of it. That’s it. You want to cultivate it yourself, no problem. Share it with friends and family, OK. Just no more industrialized tobacco.
There will be a black market. So what? The problem isn’t that people are using it. The problem is ubiquity. It’s readily available everywhere. A black market isn’t nearly as ubiquitous as selling it in every shop across the country.
What are you even talking about? I didn’t say anything about banning it.
You’re talking about making it a prescription drug only allowed for cessation purposes. That sure sounds like a ban on recreational use to me. What happens when someone without a prescription is caught with tobacco under this system you’re proposing? What makes this preferable to just letting people smoke?
That sure sounds like a ban on recreational use to me.
You said nothing about recreational use. But something that overloads the healthcare system and costs a ton of money should not be allowed freely for recreational use.
What happens when someone without a prescription is caught with tobacco under this system you’re proposing?
A fine. Like many things that people do that are illegal. Are you under the bizarre impression that the only possible thing you can do to someone who commits a crime is imprison them?
What makes this preferable to just letting people smoke?
It helps them quit. Which is good. See above, re overloading the healthcare system and costing a ton of money.
Are you under the bizarre impression that the only possible thing you can do to someone who commits a crime is imprison them?
You’re replying to an American. So, yes.
If it’s a fine then it’s effectively only illegal for poor people – unless the fine scales with wealth
Like Finland’s speeding fines. That’s reasonable.
Are you under the bizarre impression that the only possible thing you can do to someone who commits a crime is imprison them?
I didn’t say anything about imprisoning people. Any legal consequence for possession of a plant is too far.
It helps them quit.
It leverages a nanny state that forces people to quit whether they want to or not.
When British taxpayers are the ones paying for the smokers’ illnesses, whether or not they personally want to quit is not the issue. You do know how socialized medicine works, yes? British nonsmokers should not have to foot the bill when they get emphysema or lung cancer.
I don’t know why you think they should.
Universal healthcare doesn’t give you license to police everyone else’s lifestyle to your preferred level of health-consciousness.
Sounds excellent for the vape market. Just make it so only natural tobacco is legal and at the same age in which you can be drafted in the UK.
