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I honestly don't think this will lead to a massive black market like some people seem to think. I don't see big profit margins that would make cigarettes an attractive thing to sell illegally. You can only make them so expensive if you can just find someone older to buy them for you for the normal price.
Besides, smoking is pretty shit really. There aren't going to be loads of people willing to go through the hassle of getting cigarettes illegally when all they do is stink and give you cancer. Especially when the people who can't buy them will mostly be people who haven't had a chance to get addicted yet.
I think this will work and be a net positive in the long run.
I spent a few months in South Korea and packs of smokes there were like 2 bucks and change (Seoul and Gwangju). In USA a decent pack of 72s is like 8 -10 bucks, federal tax is a buck and change per pack with state taxes being 2$+ per pack. That means that on average the consumer is paying nearly 40% in taxes to the government. Black market smokes ABSOLUTELY will provide good margins, selling without tax at taxed price or greater will net black market sellers nearly double their money on each sale which is significantly greater than a lot of the easier to sell drugs. Hell when I sold weed before it got legalized I typically made 25-30% mark up unless I sold pennyweight but then it was a hassle. In the 90s when taxes were hiked on tobacco people were selling black market cartons for less than stores could with tax and making money hand over fist, it happened because of a tax HIKE not a ban! And YOU think smoking is shit, I think smoking crack rocks is shit but people still love it. Not advocating for shit here, just pointing out that there has, is, and will be a black market for tobacco and just about everything else. I have bought illegal moonshine, tax free darts off an old head, and various illicit substances without giving my genocidal gov a penny for it! Of course now I pay tax on weed I buy legally.... But I'm getting old and don't want to take as many risks when there's a legal alternative.
the black market in france wich is simply the product of high tax on tobaco is estimate at 4 billion euro. So you think britain will not have the issue with a practie that is well spread there ? i think u are delusional
yeah like any drugs ????
It wont, and the gov shouldnt have a word on those
You've obviously never been a nicotine addict. Nothing you said here would have stopped me from getting my drug, before I quit
I started smoking when I was 14. Smoked a pack a day for a while, smoked my last in my thirties.
The point of a rolling ban isn't meant to make you quit, it's to stop people from starting and it will work. Not for everyone, but for a lot of people it will.
Its taking away personal freedoms and works against a free market. Keep the government out of your personal choices.
Oh no, not the free market!
If the free market is so great where are the free market roads, or the free market fire fighters, or the free market court systems, or the free market affordable health care?
.... okay.. so let's mix in local government, taxes, and legal systems?
I don't even know what to say
Your take is very absolutist. If you’ve never smoked a cigarette, you might not realize how powerful the pull is. It’s not a normal craving. It takes over every free thought when it hits. It changes your brain in specific areas identifiable on brain scans. This shit is sugar coated poison.
I smoked for 20 years, I also I have had other addictions.. changes nothing
Where's your line between "keeping the government out of your personal choices" vs. "regulations that keep us safe"? Like, I'm sure you're ok with regulations that keep poisons like lead, arsenic, etc. out of consumable goods, right?
I kinda agree with the other commenter that said all drugs should be legalized, but also, I've had close personal experiences with how addictive and harmful nicotine is, so I can also understand why it would be the target of bans.
You choose to smoke. If someone wants to buy sawdust to put into their bread separately that's fine. regulations are to stop a market from poisoning the base product, if the product is poison then it's on the consumer.
Things that you choose to consume aren't the same as utilities.
Mkay but food isn't a utility, and neither are cigarettes/cigars/vapes/etc, so I don't really understand what you're getting at here
End of the day it's a question of personal freedoms
My right to swing my bat ends at your face. There is an interface where personal freedoms need to be restricted unless you don’t mind living in fear 24/7.
Cute?
Then why did you bring up utilities
Im all for that, honestly, but lets include all the drugs
You are looking at it from the perspective of someone who is already addicted, not from the perspective of an entire population of people who have never had access to legal cigarettes. This isn't for people who are already addicted. This is to achieve fewer people from becoming addicted.
Yes, statistics show most smokers start smoking before the age of 16, so obtaining cigarettes legally isn't stopping them. But the sheer number of smokers dropped when it became harder to find places to smoke after bar/restaurant/public area bans. It's interesting looking at the trends of smokers over time. Adult use in the US has held a VERY consistent downward trend since the 1970s, holding around the same slope for 50 years. However, youth use dropped significantly right around the time cities and states implemented smoking bans in bars/restaurants/public areas. That is correlation, not necessarily causation, so I am not claiming it as fact.
I will say it is absolutely jarring to travel to Europe from the US. I travel a lot, and going from a city where very few people smoke (well, they smoke, just not tobacco) to almost any city in Europe is a shock to my nose. It doesn't stop me visiting Europe every year, but man it does make walking on the streets there less enjoyable.
I believe in the freedom to choose what I do with .you body. Period.
While negatively impacting everyone around you.
You favorite food negatively impacts me, it stinks and it needs to be banned. See how dumb that sounds?
You're right, you do sound dumb saying that. Mostly because of how stupidly unrelated it is when you think you are sounding smart.
If you honestly can't understand the difference between your personal choice causing lung cancer in kids nearby you and you not liking the smell of my cheese pizza, then there is no point even talking to you.
People smoking in their homes is not impacting you.
If you live around people you must accept a level of smells and noise that offend you. That’s fucking life.
Cost of freedom
But governments will continue to allow nicotine delivery devices like vapes and pouches.
They should be banning nicotine as a controlled drug. Take nicotine out and people will see no reason to smoke or vape. It's been government sanctioned addiction for over 100 years.
Imagine if they did the same for alcohol :)
This. Furthermore, because the date is fixed, a decade from now, only middle aged people will smoke in public. I really doubt if youngsters find it appealing at that time, to adopt a habit associated with the elderly.
Oof, right in my middle-aged bones
Fun fact, Eric Garner was killed for illegally selling cigarettes. He was selling loosies outside of drug stores and owners had repeatedly complained about him doing that.
Ok. I'm stretching the definition of fun here. And, to be clear, I also don't think there will be a huge black market for cigarettes with this law, just that there already is one, kind of.
I know. People already sell illegally imported cigarettes too, but I don't think it's nearly as problematic as the black market for other drugs is.
Eric Garner was killed for being black and inconveniencing the cops. The loosies were just the thing that put him on the radar.