Should smoking be banned completely ?

02-09-2015 02:09PM

ejabrod wrote: »

It is my business if my taxes are being used to treat (with medication and services) the resulting conditions caused by smoking.

Your taxes go to educating the stupid, imprisoning the criminal, treating the obese, the unfit, even paying dole to the unemployable. Welcome to life.

My name is URL · 02-09-2015 02:11PM

ejabrod wrote: »

It is my business if my taxes are being used to treat (with medication and services) the resulting conditions caused by smoking.

I smoked from 22 years and the best thing I ever did was stop.

€1.1 billion taken in revenue from tobacco sales

€500 million spent on treating tobacco related illnesses

If anything smokers are subsidizing healthcare for others

Arbiter of Good Taste · 02-09-2015 02:12PM

Do smokers actually realise how disgusting and offensive they smell?

SeanW · 02-09-2015 02:12PM

I would like nothing better than tobacco smoking to be consigned to the dustbin of history.

But government Prohibition is not the answer. Temperance advocates tried it in the early 1900s, not only did it fail to seriously reduce alcohol use, but created a whole raft of other problems associated solely with Prohibition that evaporated when Prohibition was repealed.

World governments have been doing the same thing with other drugs since '73, it's been a complete disaster as well.

Raising taxes just encourages smugglers to bring in knock offs for the black market.

The answer is to lower cigarette taxes to disincentivise the black marketeers, get ppl smoking the cigs with the plain packaging, then get out of the way of the e-Cigarette "vaping" product companies so they can offer smokers a path away from the cigarettes which are 1000 times worse than e-cigs. And culturally, to make it unacceptable to entice young people to start smoking. Like we despise drink drivers, we should as a people, privately, condemn anything/anyone that encourages young people to take up the habit.

eviltwin · 02-09-2015 02:14PM

Yes, the price should be increased to €15 a pack.

Ex smoker, off them six years. No, smoking should not be banned. If people want to do it then it's their choice. Yes smoking is disgusting, the smell alone is stomach churning and I think it's chavvy but it's a personal choice.

osarusan · 02-09-2015 02:14PM

My name is URL wrote: »

€1.1 billion taken in revenue from tobacco sales

€500 million spent on treating tobacco related illnesses

Where did you get those figures?

valoren · 02-09-2015 02:15PM

Yes, the price should be increased to €15 a pack.

It shouldn't be banned.

It's been established that smoking is highly addictive, that it damages your health, is very expensive (3k a year for a 20-a-day habit) and the people who produce them intentionally try (or at least tried) to make them even more addictive. Assuming you are a literate adult who can digest that information and still choose to continue smoking or start it, then yeah, all the best with that.

sm213 · 02-09-2015 02:18PM

Yes, the price should be increased to €15 a pack.

rubadub wrote: »

They'd have to??

sure they banned loads of recreational drugs they deem to be "bad for health" but did not ban sugar. Whats so different about this recreational drug?

Hehe ok I went a bit gung ho with that comment true.

I feel threatened anytime anyone mentions outright bans of tobacco. It's my one vice and I'm keeping it.

In Fairness there's a lot of difference. Someone can smoke and be a perfectly functional member of society (except for when they really need one)
Try legalising cocaine and see how many people can work after they have a cheeky line at lunch time.

The health effects are terrible across the board thisis true.

But if op wants to ban smoking why shouldn't I say lets ban sugar? People get their kids hooked before they even know what the stuff is. Not so much with tobacco.
Surely people know better than to smoke indoors by now? Especially where children are.

SuperGrover · 02-09-2015 02:20PM

eeguy wrote: »

It will be eventually.

The ever increasing cost, the anti-smoking campaigns and the smoking ban are incremental steps towards banning smoking.
I'm not sure how vaping fits into this regards the health implications, but I'm sure there'll be a clamp down on that soon enough.

Personally I don't care if people smoke or not, so long as I don't have to sit in it.

Why, because it looks like smoking? It's pretty much the only effective nicotine replacement system available.

Re the health 'implications', here, have a read of this...

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/454516/Ecigarettes_an_evidence_update_A_report_commissioned_by_Public_Health_England.pdf

My name is URL · 02-09-2015 02:20PM

osarusan wrote: »

Where did you get those figures?

An EU report, also referenced in TFI3 estimated that Ireland spent €500 million of its health expenditure on tobacco related diseases

www.rcpi.ie/content/docs/000001/1717_5_media.pdf?1395650572

Excise receipts in respect of tobacco products tax amounted to some €1.1 billion

https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2014-03-27a.135

osarusan · 02-09-2015 02:24PM

My name is URL wrote: »

www.rcpi.ie/content/docs/000001/1717_5_media.pdf?1395650572

https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2014-03-27a.135

Thanks.

An Indo article from a couple of years ago suggested that about 2 billion was the number in both cases - but your sources are defintely more likely to be accurate.

Huntergonzo · 02-09-2015 02:24PM

Yes, the price should be increased to €15 a pack.

Well if history has taught us anything the absolute best way to get rid of a drug is to just make it illegal, then poof it's gone, never to be seen again, problem solved..........oh wait no, that's a terrible idea, as history has proven. As always education is the key, discourage smoking and be clear about it's dangerous effects to your health, after that it's a persons own choice.

Ps, I'm not a smoker myself, but banning cigarettes would only make drug dealers even richer, great idea!

Vomit · 02-09-2015 02:29PM

No, I should be smoke if I choose.

Triangla wrote: »

Yes they should ban it.

They should also ban alcohol.

And cheese.

And crisps.

And cream cakes.

And chocolate.

Good fvking idea!!

briany · 02-09-2015 02:40PM

JustTheOne wrote: »

Mad hey have such strict controls on medication in case of side effects yet they openly sell cigarettes which kills one
In three smokers.

It's mad when you think about it.

One of the gripes you hear about smokers is that they place an undue burden on the healthcare system and drive up taxation as a result, but I thought that's what the extra cost of cigarettes and other tobacco products were for. If you take it that only every one in three smokers die with smoking as a direct factor and, presumably, some of those are simply dropping dead, the rest who require longer term medical care would be covered by the high taxes on tobacco, one would think. More than adequately, even, making the whole line on tobacco tax seem more like a money grab. That's what leads me to suspect, as a few others do, that they'll never outright ban smoking because of the tax it brings in.

That goes on to the greater point that the only thing that causes governments to ban things is from popular moral outrage. That or something which affects the stability of the government. Smoking and drinking cause outrage among some, sure, but not a critical mass level, and as already mentioned the sales of tobacco and alcohol are huge revenue spinners.

Boring username · 02-09-2015 02:43PM

I reckon we should increase smoking. Get those little toddlers sucking back on a few non filter woodbines, it'll put hairs on their chests. Damn xbox generation is too mollycoddled I tells ya. It'll be good for the economy and tax income, and it'll keep this new fangled obesity at bay too. It's a win win.

Kev W · 02-09-2015 03:03PM

No, the price should be decreased, I shouldn't be financially punished for choosing to smoke.

It's a stupid, disgusting habit but prohibition doesn't work.

masti123 · 02-09-2015 03:07PM

Yes, the price should be increased to €15 a pack.

Legalize everything, freedom of choice.

Diamond Doll · 02-09-2015 03:11PM

I'm not a smoker, but I don't actually mind the smell or taste of cigarette smoke.

Obviously it's right to ban it in shared public areas, but I see no problem with anyone doing it if they choose to do so, where they're not affecting others.

Trond · 02-09-2015 03:28PM

There are less and less people smoking year on year now. Banning it completely would have little impact imo.

The fact that numbers are dropping so significantly without a ban suggests the Gov might be better off handing out e cigs for free.

darkpagandeath · 02-09-2015 03:30PM

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

Do smokers actually realise how disgusting and offensive they smell?

Do people with crap loads of perfume or deodorant on ? Or people that don't wash.

MilesMorales1 · 02-09-2015 03:31PM

If you attempt to ban smoking and stop selling cigarettes, you'll just create a massive black market for them, like with weed.

02-09-2015 03:35PM

Whenever I hear people equate smoking with stupidity and insult the intelligence of those who do, I picture this...

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/7/3/7/5/8/7/webimg/645073207_o.jpg

Kev W · 02-09-2015 03:43PM

No, the price should be decreased, I shouldn't be financially punished for choosing to smoke.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Whenever I hear people equate smoking with stupidity and insult the intelligence of those who do, I picture this...

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/7/3/7/5/8/7/webimg/645073207_o.jpg

They didn't know how bad it was for you back then. He probably had asbestos in his house too but you'd have to be a dope to put it in now.

One eyed Jack · 02-09-2015 03:51PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Whenever I hear people equate smoking with stupidity and insult the intelligence of those who do, I picture this...

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/7/3/7/5/8/7/webimg/645073207_o.jpg

Contributed to the development of the atomic bomb?

Yes, yes, I get what you're saying, but it's no different to posters making the correlation between smoking and scumbag Steve

With regard to the whole "as long as it's not affecting others argument", that's also a terrible perspective, as it ignores the fact that when a smoker dies prematurely (as they're prone to do :pac:), they leave behind their dependents.

It's one of the reasons why I recently switched to an electronic cigarette. They're nothing like the real deal tbh, and one of the other unsociable side-effects seems to be increased flatulence!

Swings and roundabouts people! :pac:

cowboyBuilder · 02-09-2015 03:58PM

Yes, the price should be increased to €15 a pack.

Worst thing would be to ban it, criminals would start to make a fortune from smuggled cigs.

02-09-2015 04:02PM

Kev W wrote: »

They didn't know how bad it was for you back then.

Actually the link between tobacco and lung cancer was proposed as early as the late 1800s.

Over 50 years later Einstein actually advocated pipe smoking.

Evidently even more stoooopid than the average smoker.

Vandango · 02-09-2015 04:08PM

Yes, the price should be increased to €15 a pack.

I'm a non-smoker but I wonder if all those who voted to ban smoking completely. Would also vote to ban drinking completely, since alcohol and it's abuse has a much greater impact on society than smoking has. I've a feeling most wouldn't.

Le Surge Eyed Amant · 02-09-2015 04:13PM

Yes, the price should be increased to €15 a pack.

Yes, because prohibition on alcohol and other drugs has really worked, hasn't it?

Of course smoking shouldn't be banned.

johnty56 · 02-09-2015 04:16PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Actually the link between tobacco and lung cancer was proposed as early as the late 1800s.

Over 50 years later Einstein actually advocated pipe smoking.

Evidently even more stoooopid than the average smoker.

I would seriously doubt your first point. Do you by any chance have a link or a source for that claim?

Cigarette smoking and the mass consumption of tobacco really only got underway with the First World War, when free cigarettes issued to the troops got a whole generation hooked.

Haznat · 02-09-2015 04:18PM

If we banned lighters and matches no one could smoke and no one would ever burn themselves.

Should smoking be banned completely ?

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