Should we ban smoking in Australia?

[Spiritlight]

What's your thoughts on banning smoking here altogether?

 

[elephunky]

I think it should be phased out after a certain birth year. However, the government has their finger in the tobacco industry and wouldnt do so because they make too much money from it.

 

[Spiritlight]

Maybe soon we might reach a point where finances gained from sales of cigarettes is outweighed by the cost to the community in medical treatment for smoking related diseases.

 

[RobertMerton]

Maybe soon we might reach a point where finances gained from sales of cigarettes is outweighed by the cost to the community in medical treatment for smoking related diseases.

we've already met that point.

the cost to the health care system is much more than the revenue gained from tobacco duties.

 

[Spiritlight]

we've already met that point.

the cost to the health care system is much more than the revenue gained from tobacco duties.

ok cool blanket smoking ban

 

[TheDag]

We don't ban alcohol and I agree with the reasoning why should smoking be different.
My criteria is that if people want to smoke that is fine as long as it does not affect me (others in general). that means I should not have to put up with cigareete smell. I should not have to put up with smell of smoke on a persons breath. In some jobs I've had that is hard to avoid. I should not have to see cigarette butts on the ground. Every smoker always tells me Oh I always put them in the bin but the amount I used to pick up everyday at work at a service station tells me many of them are fibbing. That actually makes it very difficult to smoke anywhere in public. However if they want to use the I have rights argument then so will I.

 

[Luna1991]

If we ban smoking, tobacco will become just another black market drug. I don't think there's any easy answer.

But I certainly agree with having restricted smoking areas - others shouldn't have to inhale cigarette smoke if they do not want to. This seems to be slowly catching on - my uni just made a few smoking areas - certain sections & some outdoor eating areas are the oly places you can now smoke on Camus. I think it's great.

 

[Spiritlight]

If we ban smoking, tobacco will become just another black market drug. I don't think there's any easy answer.

But I certainly agree with having restricted smoking areas - others shouldn't have to inhale cigarette smoke if they do not want to. This seems to be slowly catching on - my uni just made a few smoking areas - certain sections & some outdoor eating areas are the oly places you can now smoke on Camus. I think it's great.

Now its illegal in many places it leaves it open to the creation of a "Dob in a smoker" app for the mobile phone for people who blatantly ignore the laws and people around them and light up where they shouldnt. Pictures dont lie do they... someone can get rich from my idea as long as its invented soon.

Something like that will be the final nail in the coffin. People will give up.

 

[Hidden101]

Now its illegal in many places it leaves it open to the creation of a "Dob in a smoker" app for the mobile phone for people who blatantly ignore the laws and people around them and light up where they shouldnt. Pictures dont lie do they... someone can get rich from my idea as long as its invented soon.

Something like that will be the final nail in the coffin. People will give up.

Will not work on so many levels.
Firstly, you take a picture of a person smoking; what will you do with the picture?
Secondly, people will be more discrete about smoking, like they are when they take illicit drugs.
Thirdly, police are too busy to even bother with it.

 

[Tenebrae]

If you ban alcohol by all means

Alcohol causes just as much damage, however no one will ever outlaw that

 

[Luna1991]

If you ban alcohol by all means

Alcohol causes just as much damage, however no one will ever outlaw that

Yeah, basically sums up my thoughts. I knowits cliche, but I think better education and better support systems tend to be the way forward. Outright banning something isn't usually an extremely effective approach regarding substances and other addictive things IMHO.

To use an AA saying, 'alcoholism comes in person, not in a bottle'. The need to turn to certain things usually comes not because they are available, but because the person has an addictive predisposition to begin with. It's kind of the old story of 'if its not one thing, it's another'. I'm saying this as an alcoholic who switched to drug addiction, then to sex addiction, then back to alcoholism. And I will sometimes smoke socially, but have no desire to pick it up at any other time. It just doesn't do it for me.

So yeah, bit of a tangent there, and you might not agree. But I guess I'm really just saying that we need better education, better intervention and better support - not bans that keep addicts hiding in the dark.

 

[Spiritlight]

If you ban alcohol by all means

Alcohol causes just as much damage, however no one will ever outlaw that

At least alcohol can have a pleasant non toxic aroma.

It also does not cause employees to stand around part of the day regularly being idle on company time in designated areas.

 

[ebia]

If you ban alcohol by all means

Alcohol causes just as much damage, however no one will ever outlaw that

The way the drugs work is not very similar. Alcohol causes considerable damage but isn't addictive for most people. Nicotine is addictive for the vast majority.

 

[Tenebrae]

Well done on missing the point

a person doesnt have to be an alcoholic to get behind the wheel, and crash, injuring or killing other people

A pregnant woman could cause her unborn child to be born with foetal alcohol syndrome, by having one drink in the first trimester

There is no safe limit when pregnant

Look at the binge drinking culture in New Zealand, and look at all the damage that comes from that. Most of those kids arent alcoholics, it doesnt stop themselves from wiping themselves out on the weekends and causing unimaginable chaos

The way the drugs work is not very similar. Alcohol causes considerable damage but isn't addictive for most people. Nicotine is addictive for the vast majority.

 

[Tenebrae]

Yea, but cigarettes dont impair a persons inability to drive

Seriously dont get me wrong, i think smoking is disgusting, however if we want to look at it from a health perspective, alcohol can cause just as many problems as smoking

At least alcohol can have a pleasant non toxic aroma.

It also does not cause employees to stand around part of the day regularly being idle on company time in designated areas.

 

[ebia]

Well done on missing the point

a person doesnt have to be an alcoholic to get behind the wheel, and crash, injuring or killing other people

A pregnant woman could cause her unborn child to be born with foetal alcohol syndrome, by having one drink in the first trimester

There is no safe limit when pregnant

Look at the binge drinking culture in New Zealand, and look at all the damage that comes from that. Most of those kids arent alcoholics, it doesnt stop themselves from wiping themselves out on the weekends and causing unimaginable chaos

I'm not arguing that alcohol isn't involved in problems. But the two issues are apples and oranges; they don't compare and need to be addressed independently. Nicotine is an addictive problem, alcohol largely is not, it's a cultural problem. Alcohol can be used responsibly; there is no such thing as responsible use of nicotine.

Drink driving has been addressed enormously successfully over the last forty years, going from something that was culturally accepted to something stigmatised. There's work still to be done but banning alcohol won't achieve that - drink driving is already illegal.

There is is a big problem with binge drinking amongst young people that hasn't been sucessfully addressed.

You don't determine what action to take just by looking at the scale of the problems.

 

[Tenebrae]

Alcohol can be used responsibly; there is no such thing as responsible use of nicotine.

There remains the fact that many people dont use alcohol responsibly

There is a massive binge drinking culture not only among young people but among older adults

A person misuses alcohol once, it can lead to permanent disability, or death

Dont get me wrong, we all know how addictive nicotine is, however if a government wants to be ban one, on the basis of the harm it causes, they should also be looking at alcohol

 

[ebia]

There remains the fact that many people dont use alcohol responsibly

There is a massive binge drinking culture not only among young people but among older adults

A person misuses alcohol once, it can lead to permanent disability, or death

Dont get me wrong, we all know how addictive nicotine is, however if a government wants to be ban one, on the basis of the harm it causes, they should also be looking at alcohol

"... It causes harm" is not the only factor when thinking about a ban.

Other major ones include:
"Will it work"
And
"Who will it unfairly affect"

We know banning alcohol doesn't work - it's been tried before and it creates far more problems that it solves because it is so easy to make illegally. And there is a huge population who use alcohol responsibly who would be unfairly affected. So a ban on alcohol is not being considered.

Would a ban on tobacco affect anyone unfairly - no, not really if brought in gradually somehow with sufficient support.
Would it work - we don't know for sure. It wouldn't work in most countries but we don't have a land border with another country.

 

[elephunky]

I do not think there would be a need to man tobacco sales entirely if they just stopped these companies from the use of the deadly poisons in cigarettes.

 

[ebia]

I do not think there would be a need to man tobacco sales entirely if they just stopped these companies from the use of the deadly poisons in cigarettes.

Cigarettes without tobacco?