A tobacco ban in Tasmania (Australia) has passed a little while ago and now there's a potential look in for a similar ban across all of Australia.(http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/world-affairs/2012/08/tobacco-ban-people-born-after-year-2000-passes-tasmanian-upper-house)
The ban still allows people to smoke but anyone born after January 1, 2000 will never be allowed to buy tobacco products over the counter, regardless of how old they are. Meaning even after they turn 18, 30, 50, etc, they will still be denied the purchase from anywhere that sells tobacco due to their date of birth.
I guess it's a smart move as it doesn't piss off the smokers of this generation, and the oldest person currently affected by this new rule would be 14, and I can assume most parents (even if they themselves smoke a lot) wouldn't want their kids to take up the habit. I understand that kids these days will still smoke if they want to as they're likely to have friends born before 2000 to buy it for them, but it means that in the years coming the youngest age eligible to buy cigarettes will go up and up, until the point nobody can buy them at all.
It has been rumoured that a similar approach will be taken across other countries in an attempt to ban tobacco in the future.
Thoughts? Any angry smokers out there? Any smokers out there that approve of the decision?
This is ridiculous. I mean, this is violation of rights. And why ban tobacco? Ban alcohol, that's a much larger problem than cigarettes.
I think just because lawmakers haven't applied a similar method, or attempted with more vigor to ban one substance, does not mean steps should not be taken to ban the other. It's just a red herring point to me.
Also, I don't think it's a matter of rights, it's definitely also the business of the government to regulate the health of its people when there is a must. The more smokers, the more the unnecessary strain there is on the rest of us taxpayers, and people who could be using those hospital resources. That's not even accounting second hand smoke (although that could be solved crudely with smoking corners.) There is and should be a balance struck between freedom and enforcing social responsibility.
...? I said I care about this topic, so it should be obvious why I am following the thread. I feel this is getting personal, which it wasn't meant to be. Let's bury our axes, alright?
Simple. i'm here to write comments and give my opinions on the matter. whether i'm a citizen of AG or the townspeople of Noobsville don't really matter in the eyes of the thread
