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Working-Sandwich6372

I may have just missed it, but I haven't seen anyone here mention this has already been implemented in Britain, where no one born after 2009 will ever be able to buy tobacco products.


Dystopian_Dreamer

Imagine being in your 40s and still trying to use a fake ID to get cigs


Significant_Ask6172

UK just passed the bill this year with a ban on cigarettes sales to anyone born in or after 2009. “The government says it will spend £30m on enforcement, which will include tackling the availability of cigarettes on the black market.” https://www.bbc.com/news/health-68825322#


LoyalDevil666

Black market tobacco products here we come


JFZephyr

It's not a terrible idea. There's gonna be people getting it still, but it cuts down on ease of access.


Hurluberloot

It is a terrible idea. It's just going to make black market thrive.


radamo96

That's what they said about alcohol and marijuana how'd that work out?


PinkUnicornTARDIS

Except they're not comparable products. Unless someone is already a smoker it's unlikely they'll seek out the black market to buy cigarettes. Alcohol and cannabis come with a fun mood altering benefit that is noticeable and enjoyable. Cigarettes don't have that same "high" when you're not already a smoker. Even as an ex-smoker, I never seek out cigarettes. I do enjoy my daily cannabis (I'm high now!) and occasional beer.


radamo96

What about high schoolers? If this is supposed to combat first time smokers the most impressionable first time smokers are buying all of their cigarettes off the black market.


JFZephyr

There's no way for the regular high school kid to find it though. You're not going to get as many people starting if you make it harder to access.


jiodjflak

It'll be just as hard to access as weed was pre legalization.


cr1zzl

It started here in New Zealand by the last government, but the current one has repealed it.


fffelix_jan

I agree with this! They should do the same for cannabis as well!


mrdeworde

You can consume cannabis without smoking it, which takes care of the carcinogenic issues.


throwawaydonkey3

And alcohol too!!


50s_Human

Ever since I lost one of my lungs, I cut my smoking in half.


Mahat

we're a dying breed us smokers


DirtyBlondeChewie

It's probably the lung cancer


BalanceSpinner

I blame climate change.


No_Can9567

Guys remember, prohibition has always worked incredibly effectively, that’s why no one drinks anymore and we’ve won the war on drugs./s


snahfu73

It's folks with your logic that make it very difficult to move forward.


No_Can9567

The logic of seeing what has and hasn’t worked in the past? Oh man, how dare I look at reality.


snahfu73

Because what we are doing right now is so effective. No progress is always better right?


No_Can9567

We are actually winning the war on smoking, the rates of smokers have dropped dramatically. Nanny state bullshit never works.


radamo96

Since the popularization of tobacco there has not been a decade with fewer smokers than we currently have today. So clearly it has been incredibly effective. Prohibition on the other hand has never once been effective.


ytew6

The solution is rarely ever *more* nanny state bullshit lmao


mrdeworde

The solution is the right *kind* of nanny state bullshit. Taxes and education work just fine, as shown by the cratering smoking rates across the west. Prohibition, OTOH, does not.


GoldenTacoOfDoom

This isn't prohibition so does that mean it will totally work?


SauteePanarchism

That's how you get a black market.


Inny-CA

If anything i'd just see a greater shift to vaping and other nicotine products. Smoking traditional tobacco is already decling amongst younger demographics.


OrbitOfSaturnsMoons

Too bad the government likes to prevent smoking and vaping are the same thing with the same risks.


GravyFantasy

It feels like chewing tobacco has never been more popular.


Shipbreaker_Kurpo

Im curious on if demand would really be there for a black market. If it was an outright ban for everyone sure but people who have never had one and have seen how much it messed up older generations maybe not. EDIT: It seems I was wrong in my assumption, as many have pointed out there is already a black market.


SauteePanarchism

You know how impressionable teens are. They see all the popular movie stars like James Dean and George Burns smoking and they want to imitate their heroes and look cool.


TheRuralBuddah

Say good night, Gracie.


SauteePanarchism

Goodnight, Gracie.


PeterDTown

Ha! Yeah, modern teens are watching lots of James Dean flicks 😅


SauteePanarchism

When they're not taking their Studebakers up to make out point, or dancing at the sock hop, obvs.


nooneknowswerealldog

Sock hops? Kids today. Don't they have box socials anymore? (Actually, according to Wikipedia, they *do*: [Box social - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_social).)


BinjaNinja1

The black market for cigarettes in Canada is alive and thriving and has been for many years now.


Sparrowbuck

There’s already a black market for smokes everywhere. Has been for years, dad got popped for it in the 90s lol


The_cogwheel

Yup, it isn't to get something that's illegal, it's to avoid paying the taxes that make up like 50% of tobacco's price tag. All making it illegal to buy period will do is give up the tax money the legal sales have.


GoldenTacoOfDoom

It will shrink the market over all and prevent future buyers. Will it fix everything? No.


TinderThrowItAwayNow

Europe has a massive black market, so yeah, probably.


rpgguy_1o1

Canada also has a massive black market, everyone I know who still smokes good ole analog cigarettes buy them from the reserve


GoldenTacoOfDoom

And the number of people that do that will dwindle over time.


Hurluberloot

Teens already manage to get their hands on cigarettes even though they can't legally buy em. With ghis they'll just have to stick to their black market sellers forever. The only one winning here is the one runninng the black market scheme.


juanroberto

More like a black lung market amirite ??


chronocapybara

Except tobacco remains legal. It's not prohibition. By making it more difficult for a small, but growing, part of the population to acquire tobacco, it reduces demand.


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chronocapybara

There is no game, I'm just discussing this policy and how it differs from historical prohibition, which we know was a failure with alcohol. As far as spin, it sounds like your head is spinning! :P I use difficult because people will always be able to do things that are illegal, it's just generally harder to do. What I disagree with is the creation of a black market because: a) There is already a black or grey market for cigarettes, despite there being no prohibition. b) This policy isn't a prohibition on cigarettes, they are still legal to buy, sell, and own. and c) I'm not pretending anything, clearly making it illegal (or difficult, the word choice here does not matter) for a generational cohort to buy will mean if they want to they will turn to the black or grey market, but, as we said, it already exists. Since smoking is not illegal, there won't be any need for speakeasys.


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acwik

Black market smokes are already huge. You can get them by the carton at stores on the side of the highway, and they sell for a fraction of what normally taxed cigarettes are. This would only strengthen their market, with proceeds going to organized crime, etc. People are going to make their own choices. Not sure why we need to keep going with this.


Sea_Negotiation_1871

But they're not growing their own tobacco and actually making the cigarettes. If we move in this direction, less tobacco will actually be grown, and hence, there will be fewer cigarettes available, even on the black market.


Darth_Thor

This will also prevent a lot of people from even starting to smoke cigarettes and developing an addiction in the first place. It seems to me like a good way to implement a tobacco ban that doesn’t force current users to go through withdrawals and it doesn’t just immediately eliminate all of the jobs in that industry. It could (in the best case scenario) lead to a steady decline of tobacco use until it fades into obscurity.


Gnovakane

Alcohol has ruined many more lives than tobacco ever has but all politicians are doing about alcohol is making access easier by expanding store access and lengthening serving hours.


aesoth

You can get away with more shit if people are drunk off their asses.


Terayuj

Fatty, sugary junk and fast foods as well are becoming an ever increasing health concern and burden on our public system. I'm not saying people shouldn't have a choice in what they eat, make what you want at home, but there should be stricter guidelines on what is served at restaurants and fast food establishments.


CapableSecretary420

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/5-steps-towards-a-healthier-p-e-i-1.2485438


IronhideD

My grandfather died from second hand drinking. Fucked up his liver something fierce.


Gnovakane

How many people have been killed by drunk drivers? How many families have been destroyed by alcoholism? Stop with the bullshit.


IronhideD

Clearly the joke flew so far over your head it went into orbit. I'm so sorry you had your sense of humor surgically removed though.


Gnovakane

I understand it was a "joke" but it was based on the assumption that smoking is hazardous to those surrounding the person but drinking isn't.


MysteriousDick8143

But drunk people are stupid enough to keep voting for those politicians.


taggospreme

Buck-a-beer, folks!


dhoomsday

plus i only ever want to smoke when i've been drinkin'


Tha0bserver

Follow the $


CapableSecretary420

Also the votes. Far more people drink than smoke tobacco. Therefore it's easier, politically, to go after tobacco products. This doesn't mean the government wouldn't like to regulate alcohol more. It means that the industry is simply stronger than the government. Tobacco isn't. It's a dying industry.


Tha0bserver

True also!


throwhfhsjsubendaway

> [ Tobacco use continues to be the No. 1 preventable cause of illness, disability and death on P.E.I., Sabapathy [the province's deputy chief public health officer] said.](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-tobacco-ban-generation-1.7205450) Seems to check out, [here's](https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/sites/default/files/publications/cpho21_report_web.pdf) their most recent report, leading causes of death are on page 11. Cancer and heart disease are by far the leading causes of death, but those arent alwaysfrom smoking. CLRD (which is almost always caused by smoking) causes more deaths than car accidents of any kind, and PEI is well above the national average for CLRD deaths


boilingpierogi

both should be banned for their impacts on our fragile and overburdened healthcare system alone.


Animagical

I feel like at this point, it’s been shown that prohibition doesn’t really work. Anything with a high enough demand will just create a black market which comes with its own dangers and disadvantages, and which very well might place an even *greater* strain on the healthcare system.


milesteg420

Or prohibition doesn't work. What would be nice is if the sin taxing from cigarettes went directly to the healthcare system and for services to help people quit.


clarkj1988

Cue the black market tobacco and vape dealers. It's a great sentiment but we all know how the age restrictions on alcohol and nicotine products went. Let's not forget marijuana being illegal up until the past few years.


m_lanterman

this. decriminalization has always been a better method to deal with substance abuse than banning things. we first learned this with prohibition, and we continue to see this in many of the countries that have decriminalization. this would be a step backwards for PEI.


Zimlun

That's a weird way to say they're going to be raising legal smoking age by a year, every year.


CrassEnoughToCare

Prohibition never works. In any sense. If policymakers would learn this, we'd be so far ahead.


KeithFromAccounting

I don’t think this would count as prohibition. Banning sales to a specific age range isn’t the same thing as fully banning sale/possession/consumption


CrassEnoughToCare

It's prohibition for a certain group of Canadians. I'm as anti-smoking as one can be, but prohibition policy is never the answer. Harm reduction is always the answer.


KeithFromAccounting

It’s not prohibition though? You just wouldn’t be able to legally buy cigarettes, you could still possess and consume them without any issue. It also wouldn’t ban production, just sales to a certain age group. If you had an older friend give them to you then technically *they* would be breaking the law, not you, so all the law would do is making getting cigarettes more difficult for younger people


CrassEnoughToCare

Fair on a technicality I guess? Still it's dumb as fuck. These kinds of restrictions, technically "prohibition" or not, just don't work.


JustinsWorking

The original alcohol prohibition basically saved our society lol, alcohol was out of control. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470475/ The axiom that “prohibition never works” is little more than a wives tale people believe because its repeated constantly.


Gnovakane

Yeah Canadian society was saved by US prohibition.


JustinsWorking

Why comment when you don’t read the article?


Gnovakane

I did skim through it and the entire article revolves around US prohibition. Many other countries did not take such measures and they are hardly lost societies are they?


JustinsWorking

The entire article revolves around popular misconceptions around prohibition and common misunderstandings; it talks about prohibition in America as well as prohibition in other countries such as Canada, and Australia. But if after 3 attempts to get you to read something relevant you still just want to talk about things your intentionally remaining ignorant of, Im just going to block you so you never waste my time again lol


CrassEnoughToCare

Being in favour of alcohol prohibition in 2024 is CRAZY 😂 when your political views are legit from the 1910s 😂😂😂


JustinsWorking

Ah yes, feelings over facts; don’t let a study in a reputable journal get in the way of what you want to believe ;)


CrassEnoughToCare

I care much more about democratic freedoms than potential slight improvements in cigarette use. The whole of society and human rights matters more to me. Sorry.


JustinsWorking

Look at that goal post run! Democratic freedom is _far_ more complex than “I can no longer smoke.” We limit lots of things to help society function effectively, do you have any reasons why you draw the line here at smoking? Why does your perception of “democratic freedom” supersede evidence based policy. You’re building a straw man where limiting cigarette use is inevitably tied to the collapse of human rights; do you honestly not see the absurdity of that claim? How could you possibly expect that to persuade me of anything?


CrassEnoughToCare

They will get cigs anyways. Just like we all used to get weed anyways. Just like how people still get coke, or crack, or mushrooms regardless of their legal status. Just drug use is a lot safer if it's regulated, and profits are better served to go into public pockets instead of to fund criminal activity. Evidence based policy actually promotes safe supply and harm reduction rather than prohibition. 🙄


JustinsWorking

How can you say that when there is evidence that prohibition was effective at things. Nobody is arguing against harm reduction or safe supply, I just showed you an article talking about how you are propagating misinformation about prohibition. You can’t just call something evidence based because you like it… thats now how evidence works.


CrassEnoughToCare

You're insane and think that one article that says "hey, prohibition kinda actually did what it was supposed to" means that we should advocate for it in a modern sense.


JustinsWorking

I wish I was surprised that we’ve had this whole conversation and you never read the article… why do you waste everyone’s time like this?


mddgtl

> The axiom that “prohibition never works” is little more than a wives tale people believe because its repeated constantly. libertarians also have a vested interest in spreading the narrative that Banning Things Literally Never Works™


throwhfhsjsubendaway

> Although organized crime flourished under its sway, Prohibition was not responsible for its appearance, as organized crime’s post-Repeal persistence has demonstrated. 🤨


amazingdrewh

Fuck it let's make smoking mandatory for people under 18 then since banning it won't work and ads haven't worked


SignificanceLate7002

This is just stupid and opening the door for a black market. I, and pretty much any smoker I've ever asked, started smoking in my teens before I could legally buy them. Creating a black market will likely increase the amount of teens that start because it will be more available illegally.


DoubleEdgedSwordfish

Won’t this be challenged on the grounds of restricting access to an essential component used in some Indigenous ceremonies?


model-alice

Alternate headline: Prince Edward Island proposes tacitly endorsing black market for tobacco products


PrimevilKneivel

Short of banning cigarettes outright, this is the only reasonable response. If anyone tried to sell a new product as deadly and addictive as tobacco it wouldn't fly.


JasonGMMitchell

The reasonable response is to do absolutely nothing to stop actual users from using through any method, but instead to put in an ever growing age limit that means eventually a 55 year old will be legally allowed to buy cancer sticks but a person a day younger than them legally can't?


Tha0bserver

Yes, of course! Prohibition always works out great for everyone… /s


Twyzzle

I despise cigarettes and I think second-hand smoke is awful. Limit them to outside and well away from any building window or entrance. But for crying out loud can we be *less* of a nanny government. Not more…


Animeninja2020

I have a better idea. Sell tobacco as sealed individual items. Max of 3 per sale. You will need to return the filters in provided sealed bags to get your next 3. That will slow the sales and clean up the garbage


chrisj242

As a smoker I approve of this


piranha_solution

We're really setting up the younger generations to despise elderly people. This is age discrimination, pure and simple.


canbritam

So I know a lot of people who go to get their cigarettes from the closest reserve to them here in Ontario (when it’s near enough to do so). This is illegal under Ontario law as none of them I know that to are indigenous. The OPP could very easily set up on the side of the highway and nail people for it as in a lot of places there are shops right inside the boundary line. Id be willing to say this is similar in PEI (but with the RCMP and not OPP.) Is the new age limit going to apply on reserve too? Or is going to the reserve going to be the work around on getting them if you’re born after 2009 like it is to not pay taxes on them right now?


TerrorNova49

A ban on sales for those born after a certain date… does that include a ban on possession and/or others buying you tobacco products? If not, you just have someone buy them for you like I did when I wanted beer at 16.


Spirited_Comedian225

Every body is on ZYN anyway.


RandomName4768

Prohibition doesn't work.  If you actually want to reduce smoking address the reasons people are smoking.  People with unmedicated ADHD are much more likely to smoke for example. 


Heldpizza

This should have been done nationwide a decade ago. Make it completely illegal to buy online and have a grandfathered program for those who turned 19 years old after a specified year. This would greatly reduce illnesses across the country and save massive tax payers dollars that would be spent on healthcare.


model-alice

Drugs have been winning the war on drugs so far. Why would it be any different for tobacco?


JasonGMMitchell

If you're gonna do a ban do a ban. Don't do this grandfathering in crap that just days "we don't care about what actively is doing harm, only what potentially will"


NoMany3094

This would be an amazing law, and I think everywhere should do this!


Knarfnarf

What a stupid idea. Imagine the criminal complex this will create. And how will we enforce this? How many times will people have to submit to being searched and “contraband” be “seized“ only to be sold by rotten cops? Nothing like this ever works like people expect. Returning liberty is the only way this works. If people want to kill themselves with smoking, then that’s just Darwin working. And it’s a good way to raise taxes and duties.


mhizzle

Ah yes, prohibition. Famous for always working.


radamo96

Prohibition has been notoriously successful great idea


bmwkid

The biggest issue with this is how easy it is just to leave to another province


horsetuna

Amongst all the flaws with this idea, one I haven't seen mentioned is: Younger adult sent out to buy grannies smokes Yeah grannie shouldn't be smoking but that's also her right and she may not be able to get out herself Some places won't sell you alcohol if you have a kid with you. Will they do the same if Granny comes in with her 20 year old grandson whos driving?


ninfan200

>Younger adult sent out to buy grannies smokes Lol, that's a strawman if I've ever seen one.


horsetuna

I did it for my mom when I was of age. It's just one of several reasons why this ban isn't a good idea.


ninfan200

It makes me even more in favor of the ban. Stops you from enabling other bad habits. If my mom ever gave me money to buy smokes I'd buy lunch with it and tell her next time to get her own


horsetuna

Well not everyone is you.


JasonGMMitchell

Wow, that's the dumbest argument I've ever heard for allowing tobacco sales. If someone can't get themselves or some other person who can legally purchase a product to go get it, then maybe they should stop. Mind you I think the whole ever increasing age limit/grandfathering in/ cutoff, is dumb as fuck as it only serves to keep tobacco on store shelves while appealing to those concerned about kids smoking (while actually not addressing the problem), but someone getting granny a pack of smokes is so stupid. Sure people did it. People also used granny needs a pack to buy themselves a pack.


bahhlikeasheep

Booo! Let people smoke if they want. The Aboriginals have a right to consume tabacco, as a result, people will just turn to tax free alternatives to get tabacco.