Smoking ban what do you think?

rafichagran

Smoking is a filthy disgusting habit, it smells as well.
I have never smoked, but my parents were heavy smokers, and smoked in front of us when we were children. Passive smoking can also have side effects.
I would love to see it banned.

Both my parents smoked heavily all my childhood but I've never had problems from passive smoking.

Well, some forms of cannabis (especially the manufactured ones), can cause psychosis and other problems.

Other hard drugs drive 80% of crime.

Perhaps best to sort that lot out first?

At the same time as tobacco is being banned in various ways there seems to be a worldwide push to legalise cannabis which also has medical downsides. Is this simply replacing tobacco as a source of taxation?

M0nica

I am not for banning things, not even cigarettes. I would increase the age for buying cigarettes to 18 and then I would tax them so that the tax covers the cost of medical care for those whose health is damaged by the habit. They would soon become too expensive for all but a few to afford and they would be such an embattled minority they would stop as well.

I would dothe same thing with vaping. Tax them on the precautionary principle. They have not been around long enough to see what long term affects they have on people, but tax them well to ensure when the problems do arise vapers hve paid enough tax to fund treatment.

The lady I read smokers pay £11 billion into the tax system, and the NHS spends £3 billion in treating smoking related diseases,

The biggest health cost, at the moment, is obesity.

Smoking kills so many people it should banned, imo. My parents didn't and nobody was permitted to smoke in our home. None of our children or grandchildren smoke, thank goodness.

I remember when our eldest daughter was a very small child, a young man who was doing his teacher training at a school where my husband was a chemistry teacher, called one weekend at our home to have a chat with him. Without permission he started to smoke and was blowing it into our child's face! My husband was very angry and frogmarched him our of our home.

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*anyway

I agree, M0nica. The number of people smoking is going down steadily andway and has been for years. It will pretty much die out naturally. Maybe never completely but near enough.

I am not for banning things, not even cigarettes. I would increase the age for buying cigarettes to 18 and then I would tax them so that the tax covers the cost of medical care for those whose health is damaged by the habit. They would soon become too expensive for all but a few to afford and they would be such an embattled minority they would stop as well.

I would dothe same thing with vaping. Tax them on the precautionary principle. They have not been around long enough to see what long term affects they have on people, but tax them well to ensure when the problems do arise vapers hve paid enough tax to fund treatment.

M0nica

A growing proprtion of under 25s are actually teetotal and drink less than older age groups. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/compendium/opinionsandlifestylesurvey/2015-03-19/adultdrinkinghabitsingreatbritain2013

Banning it would be impractical, A significant number of people make their own beer and coutry wines from fruit and vegetables. What about fermented foods?

And, where do you start, and stop, banning things? Who decides, and on what criteria?

I would accept and agree with a ban on smoking and vaping (and I am a vaper) in all public spaces because we know the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and no-one has the right to inflict that harm on another.

And alcohol? We know that it is harmful in excess or above the recommended limit... but will any government seriously ever dictate that people can't enjoy a beer or a glass of wine. I would like to see some really draconian penalties on those who drink and drive, particularly if they are repeat offenders... and if they kill someone through their drunken indulgence if it were up to me, they'd never be allowed to drive again. The law is clear on drink driving, anyone who's tanked and gets behind the wheel of a car has from that moment proved that they are not psychologically fit to drive. I admit I feel rather emotional about it - I saw the aftermath of a drunk-driver driving at great speed over a zebra crossing, instantly killing a little boy with his aunt... his parents were waiting on the other side.

It's not the drink that needs banning, it's the irresponsible who over-consume and the selfish, ignorant, witless individuals who think they are entitled to drive whilst drunk.

To ban would be to take away choice. Not acceptable, imo.

A growing proprtion of under 25s are actually teetotal and drink less than older age groups. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/compendium/opinionsandlifestylesurvey/2015-03-19/adultdrinkinghabitsingreatbritain2013

Banning it would be impractical, A significant number of people make their own beer and coutry wines from fruit and vegetables. What about fermented foods?

Anniebach

Ban alcohol

We can't Anniebach. These measures have been tried and have had to be abandoned.

The genie is out of the bottle (pardon the pun) and if you try to ban it, people will start brewing and distilling their own; there will be a black market for it - and the equipment used to produce it. And where does that lead...

Back in the day (40s / 50s) I remember there was contempt for those men (usually men) that "couldn't hold their drink" - listening to some people talk, getting "mullered" is now a badge of honour - I've heard individuals boast about their drunken stupor. I don't really like to moralise about other people's behaviour which has nothing to do with me, but I can't help feeling this is so very wrong on many levels.

None of the above is from a personal POV - I don't drink... dabbled in my 20s but lost 'interest' and haven't imbibed anything for 60 odd years. Though I do use alcohol in cooking.

Ban alcohol

The other reason things are not banned is because it is an infringment of our liberty, and once started where does it end? Presumably in a society like China where everyone is monitored and checked to a level almost reaching the level described in 1984.

We can never ban plastics and overall they are not damaging to th environement. It is one use disposable plastics that cause the problem. Do you fancy going back to the old days of medecine without the infection control one use plastics give?

How do you define junk food? Look at the sugar tax on drinks. The manufacturers took the sugar out of their drinks and replaced it with artificial sweeteners, which is the lesser evil, sugar or sweeteners?

Ban chemicals? Everything is chemicals, even us, should we all self-immolate?

What a world we live in. We know the hazards of plastic, nicotine, vapes, junk food, chemicals, air pollution etc and yet nothing ever really gets banned because it makes money for somebody. Then we spend millions on sick people whose illnesses have been caused by all of the above.

My husband is a heavy smoker , has been for 40 years , it never bothered me when we met . But the last year his cough has got worse , he took early retirement last year at 56, I'd love him to give up for his health . But he won't even try , I'm led next to him now listening to his coughing and wheezing chest. I wear ear plugs now, if the younger generation could see the damage is causes in later life , it might be more of a detterent

Dolphin What a position to be in, you have my sympathy. I can fully understand your desperate desire to see no one else suffer as you and your husband have.

Hi to all,
Smoking should be Banned Full Stop I have Never Smoked myself but I have been a passive Smoker I now have Copd
Breathlessness when walking just up to my Daughters ect
My husband now has Copd himself through smoking and emphasimia it's awful to watch he's been for xrays and a ct scan yesterday as his condition is getting worse need to find info out about his condition ect.

Constant fatigue every day breathlessness tired no energy to do anything it just takes your life from you
I just wish I wasn't in this situation at all.
I cannot stay in the same room as him as
He's wrecked my life I never wanted to be like this.

Dolphin500

M0nica

No point in doing anything about smoking, f you do not also control vaping.

Vaping is rapidly becoming the new smoking and because it is so recent we do not yet know to waht extent it may damage people's health.

One of the nastier sides of smoking was the smoke and smell, which non-smokers ended up having forced upon them. It is the same with vaping, non-vapers have the nauseous choking fumes of vaping forced upon them. What is the difference.

It is the same with vaping, non-vapers have the nauseous choking fumes of vaping forced upon them. What is the difference.

I vape in my own office at home. When my OH comes in he says he's not aware of it. Nevertheless, I can smell the vape liquid myself on re-entering the room - so I don't do it in public.

When I was in hospital for a period of time, the lady opposite me (also in for the duration) regularly vaped when the lights went out. I didn't smell anything and neither, on investigation, did anyone else. We only found out she was secretly indulging when the electronic light from her device continually glowed in the dark.

If she'd been smoking a cigarette (heaven forbid) I think everyone would've noticed.

My vape liquid is non-nicotine... I don't know if that makes a difference to the residue vapour...

I would love to see smoking and vaping banned.
I have seen people die as a direct result of smoking and now have a young friend who has managed to give up cigarettes, but can't give up the vape. Vaping is now giving him health issues. He wants to find a way to give up the vapes and is putting it away so he can't just puff at will. He isn't allowed to vape at our house. Unfortunately, Vaping is just as addictive as smoking, despite all claims, otherwise. Ban the lot.
Others won't want a ban as it is their right to smoke/vape if they wish.

I am very anti smoking and the idea that vaping is better is just rubbish. Another way to get addicted ( and add to the governments wealth) it should be banned and all got rid off. People who have been smokers for years before the cancer effects were know about, could be recognised as addicts and allowed to have perhaps a license or pass which permitted them to still smoke. I am thinking of those people who have smoked for 50 years, could not be expected to stop easily and quickly. No young people should be allowed any form of tobacco , so that by the time they are all adults we should see a great diminuation of smoking. With my own son, who had asthma, as he grew up and I knew he would be mixing with others who would smoke and try to get him to join them, I firstly explained that if he smoked , his asthma would get worse and his inhalers could not improve matters if he used tobacco. Then as he got a little older and was wanting to have a car, I cut out a couple of pictures of cars he would like and put them in his wallet. We said that if he saved up, took a saturday job etc and could save half the amount of a small second hand car, we would match his savings. So it was his choice then. Immediate gratification of a packet of cigarrets, or money towards the car. He is now in his 40's and does not smoke. I asked him recently whether the card in the wallet helped at all and he said definitely, not just about cigarettes but sweets etc , because every time he opened it it showed him the car which made him think twice.

Here are some reactions from top medical experts and scientists, quoted on the Science Media Centre website.

“Incrementally raising the age of sale of tobacco products is a progressive policy that would undoubtedly impact on population level smoking prevalence, and ultimately improve rates of smoking related disease.”

“The announcement by the Prime Minister is a bold and welcome step towards achieving a smokefree future and follows the recent adoption of a similar Act in New Zealand.”

“It is always worth reminding ourselves how uniquely deadly smoking is for adults.”

“This government’s plan to introduce ‘smokefree generation’ legislation could become its defining legacy, righting a century-old wrong”.

“This is wonderful news and has the potential to be one of the most significant public health interventions for a generation. There is excellent evidence that increases to the age-of-sale from 16 to 18 in the UK, and 18 to 21 in the US, substantially reduced smoking prevalence.”

www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-pm-proposing-incremental-raising-of-smoking-age-in-england/

I think this plan to gradually raise the age at which people can buy tobacco products is a great idea. New Zealand have already brought it in. I see Labour are in favour of it too, so I guess it’s bound to come at some point.

grandtanteJE65

We all know that a government that raises the age when one may legally buy tobacco or alcohol looses income in the form of tax on these products.

But no-one ever puts forward documentation of how much money they could save on the treatment of smoking or drinking related illnesses. It might well be more than they would lose by banning smoking or simply increasing the tax on it.

The total cost of smoking per year in England has been estimated at £17 billion.
ash.org.uk/media-centre/news/press-releases/smoking-costs-society-17bn-5bn-more-than-previously-estimated

The Government website says, ‘ Total tobacco receipts for the last complete financial year, 2022 to 2023, were £10,004 million’.
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tobacco-bulletin/tobacco-statistics-commentary-april-2023--2

Looks like the government would save more than it loses if smoking ended.

Smoking is a filthy disgusting habit, it smells as well.
I have never smoked, but my parents were heavy smokers, and smoked in front of us when we were children. Passive smoking can also have side effects.
I would love to see it banned.