Smoking ban

[OnHerSolidFoundations]

Why would you not support this?

Many thanks for the like minded comments.
It is disgusting that some chose to smoke near entrances to hospitals where none smokers have to endure the gauntlet of smokers even though massive signs say 'NO SMOKING'

As I said a hospital i visit the smokers sit on a wall outside in front of a childrens/baby unit and in the summer windows cant be open because of the stench going up in to that unit

All smoking inc vaping must be banned in public IMO

Smoking threads always turn into a masterclass in false equivalence.

One cannot passively consume fatty or sugary food, or alcohol (except breastfed babies). The same cannot be said for cigarette smoke. It isn’t just bad for the smoker, it’s bad for everyone who happens to be near them.

I could sit in my living room and binge on booze and chocolate and cocaine next to my DC all day every day and their livers and noses would be fine, and they wouldn’t develop diabetes. If I smoked around them however, there’s a good chance they’d end up with respiratory problems.

I support this ban, just as I’d support a ban on smoking in all outdoor/public places. I’m tired of walking out of a train station/shopping centre/hospital and straight into a cloud of smoke. I’m tired of having to cross the road or speed up to move past someone smoking 20 yards ahead of me in the street so my DC and I don’t have to breathe that shit in.

I fully support the ban. There is nothing good about smoking and it appears education alone is not enough to stop some youngsters smoking. Making cigarettes difficult to get hold of will definitely help. Of course some kids will still get hold of them, same as some kids will get hold of illegal drugs. But we shouldn't hand it to them on a platter.

My DD was born in Feb 2009 so is banned. Her friends born on Dec 2008 can buy cigarettes when 18. So they can blow smoke rings in her face when they are 18.

I don't get how some people are seeing those born in 2009 and younger as the losers in this. A simple, straightforward, wise choice has been made on their behalf and taken out of their hands.

Anybody boasting about being able to seriously impede their health and very likely significantly shortening their life to somebody who has to miss out on those 'benefits' must really be quite dim.

Also, maybe I'm foolish, but children do often take things on board as being 'bad' and will change the culture of opinion towards them themselves. Once smoking is 'something stupid that old people do', hopefully a lot of them will make more enlightened choices, even if they legally could get in under the wire and start to smoke.

I'm sorry but I think that is somewhat naive and idealistic thinking. Logically it seems clunky and badly thought out that a policy can apply to some but not all of a year group, friendship group and even relationship

About 30 years ago, DH was working for a company that was running sensory trials for a major tobacco company. One of the company employees said to him “Tobacco is a dying industry- but it’ll take another 50 years”

This is one step on the way to the goal of making it not worth the tobacco companies’ while to produce cigarettes. It will reduce the amount sold in this country by more each year, the companies will lose their economies of scale and eventually it won’t be profitable for them to sell cigarettes in the uk. (Removing the duty free allowance of cigarettes would also help)By then, hopefully other countries may have started to follow suit.
Yes, there will be people buying cigarettes for friends, but before long teenagers wanting to start smoking will have to get them from people much older - it won’t be so easy. It will happen, but on a smaller scale every year, and it will start to have an effect on the number of kids that start smoking.

That's why I think we need a total ban. Just stop selling them altogether. Long overdue. Pour millions into helping existing smokers give up if need be.

Nice idea but how would tou deal with the existing addicts? Cold turkey? Support from the NHS? A hugely expensive programme of rehab centres? Patches controlled how?

Because we don't live in communist China.

I cannot see any other way to get the general population to reduce usage, given that a hard cut off rather than phased would be even more challenging.

However, concerned about black market and how that would be tackled, given the vape and drug issues that are not tackled now.

And I assume there is some scientific backdrop to a phased removal being proven to be effective.

Not at all. A cut-off date has to be established somewhere, which invariably means that some people will fall just one side or the other of it.

We've had all of the furore of similarly-aged friends qualifying for their pensions at different ages; and although it's perfectly legal to drink alcohol in pubs at 18, establishments are very hesitant about 18th parties, as the likelihood is that that the person turning 18 might not be the youngest in their peer group.

Yes, and then you'd have all the complaints about somebody's lovely old granny being cruelly forced to give up her lifelong pleasure in her last few remaining years.

It also occurs to me that, if a huge amount of people were legally able to buy a substance for many years that they then became thoroughly addicted to - especially those who began before the health warnings on packets and the ban on advertising - and which they were suddenly legally prevented from buying anymore, there could be an absolutely colossal legal class action against the government in the making.

If smoking IS to be banned - and this seems to be the will of the government and most adults (including a great many current smokers) - then what other practical, fair way is there of doing it, other than to allow existing adult smokers to retain their right but not to extend that in perpetuity to future adults?

It's completely normal for things to change as new generations are born and old ones die. Some changes may be widely seen as good for younger people (e.g. no longer having to do National Service) whilst others maybe not so much (e.g. having to pay for university tuition).

I suppose there will come a time, once 100% automated driverless cars are becoming the standard, when older people with driving licences will be allowed to keep them but then no future ones will be issued to younger people reaching 17.

That's a bit hyperbolic. Did you say the same when asbestos was banned, or thalidomide?

Are you campaigning for the free right for anybody who wants one to own a gun in the UK, just because it's 'communist' not to allow it?

As has already been said, it's not even just about the health of the individual who wants to smoke, but also that of everybody else. Corporal punishment didn't used to hurt the teachers, so why ban them from giving it out, eh?

Currently, an enormous amount of defenceless and powerless babies and young children live in homes where they are subjected to the devastating health effects of their parents' smoking. Yes, it will take decades, but with this law, eventually nobody of an age to have young children will be legally allowed to force them to breathe in their toxic fumes. When did it count as 'communist' to want to protect little children's health?

Just wondering how many people would eat 20 rashers of bacon s day 🤔?

2 reasons would be tax income and black market cigarettes being even more harmful than reg ones

If they could be prepared as quickly as a flick of a lighter than yes I absolutely would love 20 bacon rashers a day 🤣

Definitely a good thing. But why on earth haven't the government banned smoking in all public places yet? In many states in the US, and I think in Australia? you are not allowed to smoke outside in any public spaces. It just baffles me that still in 2024, when we know how damaging smoking is, including secondary smoking, if I want to sit outside a coffee shop on a nice day I will be surrounded by smokers.. it's grim. If I walk through a doorway into a shopping centre, I have to walk through a cloud of smoke. Horrible. Makes no sense to me. And for those who are saying smokers shouldn't be shamed for their addiction - I might agree with you if they weren't hogging all the outdoor tables and making it really unpleasant and off-putting for non smokers to eat or drink outside.

I think that's a crucial point. It's similar to the one given when people say "But what about booze? That's bad for you too."

However, most people who eat bacon might have a few rashers a week at most. Most drinkers have a few pints/glasses of wine one or two evenings a week.

With smoking, 20 a day seems to be the absolute minimum for most people. More than one cigarette every single hour of your life that you're awake - and of course, a lot of people have 30, 40, even 60 a day.

If you smoke 60 a day - which is probably not the median, but is far from unheard of, that's one cigarette every 15-20 minutes, constantly, stopping only when you're asleep.

How will you ban smoking worldwide?
Because if I cant even get my black market smokes (massive industry already) im going to go abroad and get them.

@Winnading surely you want to quit tho? I've never met a smoker who doesn't.

If it was invented now smoking would be illegal....

I mean it might. We do still let people take horrendous hormones and chop off healthy body parts because they "feel" like a different sex...

But that aside!

Alcohol abuse costs the NHS an estimated £3.5 billion per year in England.
It is estimated that smoking has cost the NHS in England £2.6 billion per year.

Smoking is a dirty habit but doesn't come near the destruction excessive alcohol consumption causes with street violence, domestic violence, drunk driving deaths etc.

If you're happy to ban adults from smoking then drinking should be next!

Playing devil's advocate.

I agree @DirtyDuchess

Can see that going down well when I'm telling a fully grown adult I'm not serving them with cigarettes as they're not old enough 😂

I can't see much changing . Look at weed that practically available everywhere. They will just be selling weed and cigarettes