Would you like to see cigarettes slowly banned?

Eleven Benevolent Elephants

My proposition would be that cigarettes cannot be sold to anyone born on or after the 1st of January 2003, ie, the next batch of people who will turn 18. Provision of identification will be mandatory for all sales, even if the person appears to be 100 years old in order to remove discretion and ambiguity.

Cigarettes will only be available during set hours like alcohol.

Of course, you'll have black market sales, these can be rooted out by undercover Gardaí posing as potential customers. If caught, you get a mandatory 6 month sentence.

Supplying tobacco to people born after 2003 will be similarly punished. Gradually, as the years go by, less and less people will be alive who will have been born before 2003. Within a few generations we will be tobacco free.

Lundstram

Feck off!

dxhound2005

Ban matches. Three strikes and you're out.

corner of hells

I smoke about 4 cigarettes a year , you can stick your ban up your hole.

bassy

time for bed bud.

uch

You know, when I see an anti smokin ad, it actually makes me want to have a smoke

Prohibition doesn't work. We need to legalise and tax all drugs. Use that money to support hospitals rather than support criminal gangs.

Idbatterim

Ban them on premises of pubs and clubs for a start ... break the link with social smoking...

John Frank Wilson

Ex-smoker here, will NEVER smoke again.

However... f*** off.

Kindly .

.anon.

Make them available via prescription only in the lead-up to an eventual ban.

Kermit.de.frog

Every smoker thinking - should the OP be slowly banned?

Jimson

Do you really want to smoke cigarettes that someone shat out or stored up their anus?

uch

Jimson wrote: »

Do you really want to smoke cigarettes that someone shat out or stored up their anus?

yep, and a bit of cheesecake would be lovely

Why ban them?

The number of smokers has been steadily decreasing for a long time among all age groups, most notably among teenagers.

440Hertz

I think they’re sort of fading out of cool anyway. I don’t seem to know anyone who smokes anymore and I’m always a bit stunk out of it when I got to places like France where it’s still way more common.

It really smells bad when you stop being used to the odour.

Car99

If someone wants to smoke let them smoke .they're adults and they cant say they're not aware of the risks.

TheValeyard

Isnt that what Russia has done?

cnocbui

No. The older I get , the more I am inclined to a libertarian view. Let adults do whatever they want if it doesn't harm others. I want less of governements and other people telling other people what to do.

440Hertz

The indoor ban is libertarian view, as it’s basically there to stop passive smoking. It’s one thing if you want to smoke yourself, it’s another if you want to pollute the indoor environment, removing other people’s choices.

I remember back in the later days of smoking, you’d come home from a nightclub or pub absolute reeking of smoke, even though you didn’t smoke yourself.

I remember it being so bad in some places, you’d still smell of smoke after showering.

When you think about what bar and nightclub staff must have been inhaling working in those places frequently, you’d wonder how much damage was done.

Mjolnir

440Hertz wrote: »

I think they’re sort of fading out of cool anyway. I don’t seem to know anyone who smokes anymore and I’m always a bit stunk out of it when I got to places like France where it’s still way more common.

It really smells bad when you stop being used to the odour.

Yup most teens that would have smoked are now vaping.

I quit years ago still get cravings for them, caught the smell of one the other day was instantly put back off.

440Hertz

Banning stuff just results in contraband and that opens gang involvement and next thing you’d have people buying cigarettes off drug dealers.

I’d be in favour of dropping the cannabis ban too for similar reasons. It might help break a cycle of bringing people into contact with hard drug dealers and dramatically reduce their market.

Pretzill

I'm three years off them yesterday so ban away - however if I was still a smoker I would say no prohibition doesnt work it only fuels criminality - and I still believe some people can smoke without dire consequences, some...

milltown

Deleted User wrote: »

Why ban them?

The number of smokers has been steadily decreasing for a long time among all age groups, most notably among teenagers.

Exactly the point I was going to make.
Kids these days aren't as cool as we were.

freshpopcorn

No, there’s nothing wrong with the odd social smoke.
If we were to start banning everything that was bad for us we’d have no pleasure at all.

topper75

I'm not saying I'm in total control of my ego, in fact, I may never be.

But I have long since relinquished any need for others to do what I do, dress like I do, listen to what I listen to etc.

If somebody wants to spark up an oul' fag to relax for a moment on a park bench, all I can hope is that they enjoy it. Nothing got to do with me. I'm not the boss of them.

Sgt Hartman

Banning isn't enough. If it were possible I would eradicate the tobacco plant from the planet and render it extinct.

B.A._Baracus

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

Banning isn't enough. If it were possible I would eradicate the tobacco plant from the planet and render it extinct.

The problem is that the government will have a massive loss of tax. They'll find other ways to make up the revenue. Ways you will not like

blackbox

Deleted User wrote: »

Prohibition doesn't work. We need to legalise and tax all drugs. Use that money to support hospitals rather than support criminal gangs.

Quite right. Smokers don't bother me as long as I can't smell them. Prohibition leads to crime.

Oh... It would be nice if they disposed of their butts and wrappers with consideration for others.

Tazz T

They are being slowly banned through taxation. 80% of a the price of a packet is now tax.

I honestly don't know how anyone can afford to smoke.

But by all means, start a political party, get into power on the basis of your ban smoking manifesto, become Taoiseach and make your vision a reality.

cnocbui

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

The problem is that the government will have a massive loss of tax. They'll find other ways to make up the revenue. Ways you will not like

A drop in the bucket compared to losing the 10% of government revenue that comes from taxing ICE motorist, which the government are doing their best to eliminate, vis a vis sucking people into EVs via subsidies from ICE revenues. Get ready for 32% VAT, because they won't be able tax electricity the way they do petrol and diesel.

ShatterAlan

Eleven Benevolent Elephants wrote: »

My proposition would be that cigarettes cannot be sold to anyone born on or after the 1st of January 2003, ie, the next batch of people who will turn 18. Provision of identification will be mandatory for all sales, even if the person appears to be 100 years old in order to remove discretion and ambiguity.

Cigarettes will only be available during set hours like alcohol.

Of course, you'll have black market sales, these can be rooted out by undercover Gardaí posing as potential customers. If caught, you get a mandatory 6 month sentence.

Supplying tobacco to people born after 2003 will be similarly punished. Gradually, as the years go by, less and less people will be alive who will have been born before 2003. Within a few generations we will be tobacco free.

Yeah......OK


Rape was banned centuries ago and here we are "rape free"


You dreamer.

whisky_galore

Should suffer a slow extinction through people copping the fcuk on to its health effects and realising that burning vegetable matter wrapped in paper in your gob is a stupid look.

s1ippy

If anyone knows where it's possible to obtain wild tobacco seed, somebody I know would really love to get some.

IAMAMORON

I would prefer to see health nazis condemed for being the altruist fascists that they are.

Diversity matters.

BalcombeSt4

No, because then I'd have to pay an even higher price for them of a drug dealer, like I have to when I want to buy cocaine.
So I would want to do the opposite of what you are suggesting.

Liberalbrehon

Deleted User wrote: »

Prohibition doesn't work. We need to legalise and tax all drugs. Use that money to support hospitals rather than support criminal gangs.

"Prohibition is the trigger of crime. "
Ian Flemming - Goldfinger 1959

cnocbui

s1ippy wrote: »

If anyone knows where it's possible to obtain wild tobacco seed, somebody I know would really love to get some.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=tobacco+seeds&_sacat=0

Strumms

ShatterAlan wrote: »

Yeah......OK


Rape was banned centuries ago and here we are "rape free"


You dreamer.

If rape wasn’t illegal do you think we’d see more rapes or less ? More, because it being illegal, means there is a deterrent for scumbags who would rape.

If breaking traffic lights wasn’t illegal, yes we’d see more people breaking the lights.

Same any crime, the laws and the consequences of breaking them is what keeps law and order in the main.

If cigarettes were banned, people illegally manufacturing them could make a shîtload of cash a year, or years in jail..

440Hertz

440Hertz wrote: »

The indoor ban is libertarian view, as it’s basically there to stop passive smoking. It’s one thing if you want to smoke yourself, it’s another if you want to pollute the indoor environment, removing other people’s choices.

I remember back in the later days of smoking, you’d come home from a nightclub or pub absolute reeking of smoke, even though you didn’t smoke yourself.

I remember it being so bad in some places, you’d still smell of smoke after showering.

When you think about what bar and nightclub staff must have been inhaling working in those places frequently, you’d wonder how much damage was done.

When I was a kid once a year we'd go to stay at my uncles house down in Cork. Both him and his missus were heavy smokers. When we got back home the entire contents of our bags would be put in the washing machine, because even the t-shirt or sweater that spent the holiday in the bottom of the bag in the upstairs guest room would be smelling of smoke. It really gets everywhere, so as you say you'd feel sorry for staff back in those days.

As another poster said, I'm an ex smoker, will never smoke again, but I'd be against a ban.

I don't believe in nanny states. I want a libertarian society with less controls not more. Let people do what they want so long as it doesn't adversely affect other people - but come down hard on people who cross the line.

Liberalbrehon

Banning things is both a conservative and left wing default position for social control. It always backfires.
Education, tax, Instagram, kicking smokers out of bars and vaping have done more to decrease cigarettes than any banning could ever do without the associated black market when you ban stuff. Cigarettes will be a tiny minority activity in twenty years, although in Africa, Asia where none or few of those exist and cigarette marketers have free reign, then it will be fifty + years before major decreases materialize.

xzanti

I don't smoke. I cannot stand it.

But no. I don't think it should be banned.

We have had enough liberties taken away from us in recent years.

Strumms

xzanti wrote: »

I don't smoke. I cannot stand it.

But no. I don't think it should be banned.

We have had enough liberties taken away from us in recent years.

Is it a liberty though ? The cost in terms of human cost and financial is crazy.

https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/quit-smoking/reasons-to-quit-smoking/smoking-facts-and-figures.html

In Ireland, smoking is the leading cause of avoidable death. Nearly 6,000 people die in Ireland each year from the effects of smoking and thousands of others suffer from smoking-related diseases. That’s according to the HSE.

EVERY cigarette is bad for you. You can enjoy alcohol in moderation, junk food in moderation but every cigarette is bad for you.

Costs the taxpayers millions every year, despite the revenue raised.

Prevents taxpayers and non smokers having access to other hospital treatments because so many resources are plowed into helping people with smoking related diseases... there is serious underfunding in the areas of rehabilitation from the likes of brain injuries etc... that people acquired through no fault of their own... car crashes, assaults, workplace accidents... yet billions is spent, on smokers health even though every smoker is enabled from a child to know and understand...it will likely cause you medical issues of some sort in the future... but because of their choice, disregard this knowledge.

As an ex-smoker, I would say absolutely not.

If I was asked to advise the government, I'd recommend they completely reboot their "quit smoking" plan.
So many smokers I know have tried different methodologies, and I only know of one who stopped smoking at the first attempt using any of these methods.
I tried a few methods, and none worked personally. NRT didnt help at all. quit.ie didnt help at all. One afternoon spent at an Allen Carr clinic, and I stopped immediately, and have not smoked since. The numbers I heard, are that this method has a 50% success rate, as opposed to a <10% success rate of the common methods.
I'd love some proper research, but, if one method works 5 times more frequently that than the others, surely the government should be promoting the method more likely to succeed.

Push that on smokers who have an urge to stop, rather than making cigarettes illegal.

Strumms

Deleted User wrote: »

Push that on smokers who have an urge to stop, rather than making cigarettes illegal.

There are different attitudes though in smokers, smokers who...

- enjoy smoking, have no great wish to or feeling of trying to quit.

- say they are going to try and quit but who NEVER ever walked to a chemist to buy a pack of patches, yet talk about it, NEVER ever looked at the idea of a psychologist but 10 times through the year mentioned to friends about this girl in Dublin 3 who helps 4 out of 5 clients stop smoking. TALK about it.

Having an urge and want doesn’t translate into trying. My cousins wife is like this, my eyes glaze over when she talks about it for the 111 time..

Just ban the fückers...

B.A._Baracus

Strumms wrote: »

Costs the taxpayers millions every year, despite the revenue raised.

I believe that the amount taxed far surpasses the taxpayers cost. Not everyone has a medical card.

As for the whole liberty thing tho. A person has the right to smoke. Because if you listen and take on board what EVERYONE says alcohol would be banned. McDonald's would be banned. Wearing tracksuits would be banned everything would be banned.

Vic_08

Strumms wrote: »

There are different attitudes though in smokers, smokers who...

- enjoy smoking, have no great wish to or feeling of trying to quit.

- say they are going to try and quit but who NEVER ever walked to a chemist to buy a pack of patches, yet talk about it, NEVER ever looked at the idea of a psychologist but 10 times through the year mentioned to friends about this girl in Dublin 3 who helps 4 out of 5 clients stop smoking. TALK about it.

Having an urge and want doesn’t translate into trying. My cousins wife is like this, my eyes glaze over when she talks about it for the 111 time..

Just ban the fückers...

And then there will be zero tax take on smoking but a massive increase in profits for organised crime and sweet FA difference in the numbers smoking.

This childish fantasy that governments, medical experts and far too many people in general have that banning vices actually stops people indulging is one of the biggest societal failings we still cling on to.

The problems with addictive and damaging substance abuse is not being dealt with properly. At the same time we have empowered a huge rise in the power and reach of utterly devastating international crime networks on the backs of supplying illicit substances and services while at the same time squandering trillions of public money fighting an unwinnable war on a black market not a single county on the planet has successfully stopped.

Rodney Bathgate

My suggestion is to knock a millimetre off cigarettes each year. Smokers won’t spot it.

TheIrishGrover

Whatever about banning them, I think that patches/gum/whatever should be subsidised for 6 months treatment to help get people off them. I think they should be banned from anywhere people must gather. Of course indoor public places as currently but also at places like bus-stops and, in current situation, queues to shops etc.

partyguinness

I am a vehement anti smoking fanatic and cannot abide smoking. But of course an outright ban will never work. It is about changing attitudes and shaming smokers. Society must make it 'uncool' to smoke so much so that people will simply turn their backs on it.

Church on Tuesday

Nah, the ban in pubs was enough for me just at a time when I would start going to them.

I despise cigarettes and smoke but people should be free to have the choice to smoke them.

begbysback

Banning cigarettes would make them more profitable than drugs, I’d probably actually give up my own job and start bootlegging the fags if they were banned.