Smoking ban

[Heathrow fox]

2 hours ago, SystonFox said:

I don’t know how one can afford the habit anyway. 
 

£20 for a box nowadays is it? That lasts a day? Sheesh some guys be on dollar bills yall

Not yet 20 quid a packet but put it this way you have to earn a taxable score to buy an average box of cigarettes.It’s more or less a worked for pound a fag.

Making smoking unaffordable is the way to go.As long as the alternatives aren’t taxed to death.

[Leicesterpool]

Might mean buses actually leave on time lol, be amazed the amount of bus drivers that smoke. 

[ozleicester]

A couple of years ago, New Zealand annouced that from anyone born after 2009 would be unable to buy cigarettes.. eseentially ending smoking in NZ in a generation or 2.

 

But now theyve rescinded the law.. coz they need the tax money... FFS   I may be remembering wrong but doesnt the cost of keeping smokers alive outweigh the revenues of taxing them?

Again, the obvious answer, legalise weed and tax it

edit
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/27/new-zealand-scraps-world-first-smoking-generation-ban-to-fund-tax-cuts

 

Edited 18 April by ozleicester

[Jon the Hat]

I find it extremely discriminatory to say to one adult they can legally do something another they cannot based purely on age.  Also not sure it would stand up in court.

[grobyfox1990]

3 hours ago, ozleicester said:

A couple of years ago, New Zealand annouced that from anyone born after 2009 would be unable to buy cigarettes.. eseentially ending smoking in NZ in a generation or 2.

 

But now theyve rescinded the law.. coz they need the tax money... FFS   I may be remembering wrong but doesnt the cost of keeping smokers alive outweigh the revenues of taxing them?

Again, the obvious answer, legalise weed and tax it

edit
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/27/new-zealand-scraps-world-first-smoking-generation-ban-to-fund-tax-cuts

 

Exactly, we’re meant to be a liberal country with a conservative govt ffs. legalise everything and price it to infinity. If you are so stupid as to smoke Mary Jane for ‘medicinal purposes’ your money is better off in public hands your own 

[Babylon]

16 hours ago, MPH said:

Instead of trying to ban smoking.. would it not be better to introduce regulations that reduce the ... potency? of the cigarettes to make it less damaging? or maybe to have regulations in place that reduce the nicotine levels to make it easier to quite should someone want to?

Ban them from NHS care and say they need a separate insurance policy to cover any future care. Soon have loads quitting. 

[LVFox]

Surely there is a sliding scale of affordability effecting use and therefore pressure on the NHS.

 

Tax the hell out of it until that scale tips us into net income.

 

 

[foxile5]

Extremely mixed feelings on it.

 

On the one hand you can't really argue with a ban on smoking - it's harmful, it costs money, it ruins lives, it's objectively a negative.

 

However - the first cut is the deepest with things like this. I'm extremely wary above the government banning things like this. Of course they're going to choose smoking as it's difficult as a population to argue with. However, it opens the door to other bannings. I don't like the idea of the government - of any flavour - getting comfortable with taking away liberties. EVEN IF it is things like smoking in the first instance. It's not a million miles away from policing what I eat and drink.

 

 

 

[Greg2607]

Alcohol costs the NHS an estimated £3.5 billion per year in England and costs an estimated £21 billion per year to society.

 

Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS £2.5 billion every year, equivalent to 2% of the health service's budget

 

I'm assuming you'd all be happy to have Alcohol banned to save the NHS money and charge anyone who drinks alcohol for NHS usage??

 

I used to be a smoker (technically, probably still am as I vape as a replacement now) and i'm not really a drinker either..... I'll occasionally have a pint every few months....

 

I don't disagree with banning smoking per se.... but it's very draconian. 

[Graceroad]

12 hours ago, Zear0 said:

More bloody government interference in my daily life for the pathetic reason of keeping us alive.  First they stopped me drink driving, then drug driving and now this?  Freedom of choice utterly down the swanny.

 

Need a goldfish license to go with my gun license next.

Yes drink driving and smoking are so similar. How wonderful that the government care about keeping us all healthy  look forward to  them cutting us down to 2 pints a week and they really need  to limit the amount of chocolate that we eat got to reduce the chances of diabetes.

[Daggers]

2 hours ago, Babylon said:

Ban them from NHS care and say they need a separate insurance policy to cover any future care. Soon have loads quitting. 

Fine, who else are you going to ban from a service they may have paid in to for their entire life? Chubby folks? Oldiwonks? They’re always demanding health treatments. People who go around sticking their cocks into things and catching diseases? And how precisely do you intend to prove that the smoking related ailment resulted from the individual smoking and not from secondhand sources?

 

Given the societal cost of drinking, no doubt you’ll also be in favour of enforced sobriety too, as a follow up? That went well when they banned it, eh. 

[Daggers]

1 hour ago, Greg2607 said:

Alcohol costs the NHS an estimated £3.5 billion per year in England and costs an estimated £21 billion per year to society.

 

Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS £2.5 billion every year, equivalent to 2% of the health service's budget

 

I'm assuming you'd all be happy to have Alcohol banned to save the NHS money and charge anyone who drinks alcohol for NHS usage??

 

I used to be a smoker (technically, probably still am as I vape as a replacement now) and i'm not really a drinker either..... I'll occasionally have a pint every few months....

 

I don't disagree with banning smoking per se.... but it's very draconian. 

There’s a broader impact to drinking through the cost of policing, clean up operations in towns and city centres, domestic abuse…the list goes on. 

[Greg2607]

10 minutes ago, Daggers said:

There’s a broader impact to drinking through the cost of policing, clean up operations in towns and city centres, domestic abuse…the list goes on. 

absolutely. But there is also a £1bn difference in the direct cost to the NHS. 

[Babylon]

18 minutes ago, Daggers said:

Fine, who else are you going to ban from a service they may have paid in to for their entire life? Chubby folks? Oldiwonks? They’re always demanding health treatments. People who go around sticking their cocks into things and catching diseases? And how precisely do you intend to prove that the smoking related ailment resulted from the individual smoking and not from secondhand sources?

 

Given the societal cost of drinking, no doubt you’ll also be in favour of enforced sobriety too, as a follow up? That went well when they banned it, eh. 

Firstly, I'd ban you from being able to use the NHS, based on the fact you couldn't tell I wasn't being serious. 

 

Then I would absolutely ban old, fat, alcoholics from using it... good job you are already banned. 

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, Greg2607 said:

Alcohol costs the NHS an estimated £3.5 billion per year in England and costs an estimated £21 billion per year to society.

 

Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS £2.5 billion every year, equivalent to 2% of the health service's budget

 

I'm assuming you'd all be happy to have Alcohol banned to save the NHS money and charge anyone who drinks alcohol for NHS usage??

 

I used to be a smoker (technically, probably still am as I vape as a replacement now) and i'm not really a drinker either..... I'll occasionally have a pint every few months....

 

I don't disagree with banning smoking per se.... but it's very draconian. 

I don't think either should be banned. In Europe they treat you like adults and have bars etc that are designated as places to smoke, whilst others are smoke free. 

 

But, I do think a bit like how your insurance doesn't cover you if you are pissed and hurt yourself abroad, having some form of accountability in terms of costs isn't a too far-fetched idea. 

[ramboacdc]

I am for the ban, but the tax gap will be large unless they increase it on vapes/alcohol/a decriminalised substance. The clientele may be dying but it's still a lot of tax. The next problem will be finding something to do with all the single use vapes that people are binning with all the batteries and alike in them. They are better for you but we need to shake off the need for nicotine in the country in total, otherwise you replace smokers with them idiots who look like steam trains but the smoke smells of mango. 

 

 

[boots60]

[MPH]

3 hours ago, Babylon said:

Ban them from NHS care and say they need a separate insurance policy to cover any future care. Soon have loads quitting. 

 

Actually, a  ‘ supplemental health choice’  charge might be the answer for certain life choice related treatments.. but I’m sure the government wouldn’t just stop at  a smoker.. also chubster who weighs 30 stone because he eats fast food twice a day, drug addict, , alcoholic.. they’d probably all get on the list.. 

Edited 18 April by MPH

[MPH]

1 hour ago, boots60 said:

 

Those red  cheeks are from the emphysema and COPD she has from smoking..

Edited 18 April by MPH

[Daggers]

3 minutes ago, MPH said:

 

Those red  checks are from the emphysema and COPD she has from smoking..

Red Czechs?

[Bellend Sebastian]

I'm largely on the fence on this but I can get behind the proposed amendment to include banning Dryrobes being worn as coats

[Mike Oxlong]

On 24/02/2024 at 11:55, Mike Oxlong said:

Dry robe wanqas 

 

No explanation required 

 

12 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I'm largely on the fence on this but I can get behind the proposed amendment to include banning Dryrobes being worn as coats

A lot of people that I see wearing these in the town appear to prefer doughnuts to cold water swimming 

Edited 18 April by Mike Oxlong

[Bellend Sebastian]

11 minutes ago, Mike Oxlong said:

 

A lot of people that I see wearing these in the town appear to prefer doughnuts to cold water swimming 

Well they are very roomy

[bovril]

11 hours ago, Leicesterpool said:

Might mean buses actually leave on time lol, be amazed the amount of bus drivers that smoke. 

I have a Turkish friend who the first time he took a train in England got out at a station stop because he just assumed everyone (inc. the driver) would smoke. Lit up and turned around to see the train pulling away from the platform. 

[Suzie the Fox]

4 months today i quit and havent lit a cigarette since, not once have i looked back, although vaping has helped no end.. Started with the highest dose nicotine juice and now reduced down to the middle dose. Hoping within the year i can reduce it to the lowest and eventually quit nicotine altogether.