- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
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Lord Naseby, a Conservative former MP, said the Tobacco and Vapes Bill “does upset a great many people in that industry”, including retailers.
Good.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting,
🤢
It’s not clear how they will police this. Will you need to provide ID at point of sale? Will we punish buyers or sellers? Will this just make this all go underground?
While I do think everyone should quit smoking, it’s easier said than done and it could disproportionately affect disadvantaged people.
It’s not clear how they will police this. Will you need to provide ID at point of sale?
You have to right now if you’re lucky (unlucky) enough to still look like a child otherwise the seller is fined quite substantially and they do spot checks to enforce this. Same with alcohol. The difference is that the lowest age will increase each year.
I’d assume I’d at the retailer, like they legally have to do to make sure you’re over 18 now. It’ll just be the age goes up and up and up.
Bold of you to assume the U.K. government has the ability to reason.
Prohibition never works, if people want something then they are going to find it. The only thing this does is make smoking tobacco even less safe than it already is. If they truly wanted people to stop smoking then they just need to keep raising the tax on it year after year but of course new taxes are unpopular and politicians hate to be unpopular
Outright banning it or taxing the shit out of it have the same effect: buyers go to underground sellers, further risking their health/bypassing legal quality controls.
Source: I’m a weed smoker in Canada. While it is legal here; it’s like 80% cheaper to use ‘native’ dispensaries (shops on native land, run by natives, and thus not subject to federal/provincial taxes). It’s been several years since I last used a govt dispensary, and that was mostly because my usual sources were unavailable at the time.
$10-15/gram shatter vs $45-50/gram at a govt dispensary.
At least the taxing option brings in revenue for the govt and keeps people out of jail just for consuming their substance of choice without harming anyone else.
Fair point but for tobacco I think it would be different. Granted its a subjectively biased opinion but every smoker I’ve talked to wants to quit and just needs the proverbial last straw to put it down for good. If tobacco spikes in price that will be that straw for many people. Sure plenty of folks will still want to use tobacco and will do their best to skirt that tax but it will be a fraction of the current total smoking population that will continue to shrink. Additionally higher taxes kneecap the ability of manufacturers to raise prices on their goods so if theres no profit to be made the industry itself shrinks.
Fantastic. Time to limit this plague.
But alcohol is ok?
This just reeks of banning something because we, personally, do not like it.
I am totally fine if it reeks of banning it because it reeks…
If it “reeks” of anything it reeks of making a compromise of what is more damaging to society and what could reasonably be done given the current circumstances.
Smoking / vaping hands down trumps drink. That’s not to say drink isn’t damaging but of the two what is more damaging.
It’s actually one of the more sensible things this government has achieved.
Smoking / vaping hands down trumps drink.
By what metric are you basing this off of?
What metric? Metric? The metric would be: Deaths. Perhaps you mean sources of this claim?
NHS Statistics on Public Health 2023 shows that smoking was attributed to 74,600 deaths. The same statistics show 408,700 attributable admissions to hospital due to smoking.
The Office For National Statistics showed that, in comparison, there were 10,473 deaths from alcohol-specific causes. Whereas the Government figures from another study showed there were 339,916 alcohol-specific hospital admissions, 280,747 alcohol-related hospital admissions under the narrow definition, and 1,018,986 alcohol-related hospital admissions under the broad definition in England (you can read up on the definitions yourself).
So in terms of deaths smoking is by far the greatest of the two evils. Whilst it is right to point out alcohol still causes harm if the government were to focus on one then smoking and vaping is the right one to focus on.
Plus passive smoking. While drinking is bad for the drinker’s health, it’s possible to be around people who are drinking without drinking yourself. The same can’t be said for smoking.
Great news. Some people cry about government overreach but this is a good thing. It’s insane that we still have entire industries around tobacco. Vapes aren’t going anywhere for those after 2008 who want to smoke, and the lack of tobacco in their lungs will be a net plus for the NHS.
