Senator Michael McDowell
Who doesn’t love a crafty gasper?
The state for one.
Via Michael McDowell in the Irish Times:
…Cigarettes may even be restricted to sales in pharmacies, we are told. This is absurd. If a highly profitable State monopoly on tobacco sales is to be conferred on anyone, it should not be pharmacies. And it is even possible, according to the HSE, that filters will be banned on cigarettes – making them more harmful as a deterrent is a new idea.
Another idea under consideration is printing cancer warnings on each cigarette.
I don’t smoke and I totally supported Micheál Martin’s ban on smoking in indoor premises to which the public have access. But while I really pity nicotine addicts, I do not think that tobacco should be the subject of American-style 1920s Prohibition-era laws.
This is a case of the nanny state going a step too far. If people want to smoke, the State has no business preventing them from doing so. If people want to drink, you can’t bring in prohibition in the interests of cancer prevention, public health or the HSE’s budget.
It is noteworthy that we are considering legalising the smoking of cannabis while the HSE is planning the banning of smoking altogether – or nearly altogether.
Does the HSE want us all to live until we are 100? Who will pay the HSE for the consequences of that?
Public health policy does not warrant such coercion in a free society…
Ratlicker!
*sparks up afternoon fattie*
Michael McDowell: Anti-alcohol law contains some utterly ridiculous legal provisions (irish Times)
Unrelated but worth mentioning. https://www.thejournal.ie/worker-shortages-supermarkets-truckers-5646437-Jan2022/
Might Omicron be the straw that breaks the camels back in terms of supply chains? Only time will tell
Stock up just in case.
…toilet roll…I’d say you’re bricking it since the Omicron spread…
“in a free society” – oh if only we were
“Does the HSE want us all to live until we are 100?”
Sounds like the campaigns used against mandatory seatbelt wearing and anti-drink driving laws when they were first proposed. Yet most people accept they are good things now.
The HSE would love if we all died at 40 – the older you get the more resources you take up.
What happens to pensions if we all live till 100? Working till 80?
“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
TBH
The Dept of Health don’t know what to do about smoking
like they’re always trying to look busy on the issue
and as a ex smoker myself, I can tell ye that their ban on the 10 packs was their biggest mistake yet
and that was a simple stroke of a pen, yet it sent the 5 and 10 a day smokers straight up into the 15 20 a day
Both smoking and drinking are personal activities that are already heavily regulated and taxed
so they should just mind their own business at this stage
They banned 10 packs in 2007. At that time 29% of over 15s people smoked. By 2019 that declined to 17% (14% smoke daily).
Do you have any actual evidence of a big mistake?
well
meself
and its not how many smokers per head of population
its how many a day smokers there are in that % of the population
I went from 6/7 -10 a day up to 18 20, easily,
And I know I wasn’t the only one with the same experience
whereas if you’re a non smoker or an ex smoker, you’re always a zero
but if you are a smoker
then included in the smoking head count are the likes of a few puffs when having a drink , right up to to 20+ a day, and the odd cigar
BTW, a Dept of Finance Snr told me that the number of smokers is always uncertain, since many people smoke fags brought back from Holidays, duty free or the back of a lorry kinds
Dept of Finance have nothing to do with counting the numbers of smokers. The sales of cigarettes are not how the basis for the calculation so that person is a spoofer.
There is a consistent downward trend in the numbers smoking since 2007. Your smoking past habits are not proof that the Department of Health have made any big mistake on smoking.
whatever yer having yerself George
all I know is that I went from buy ten – say 5 times a week
to buying 20
And my smoking habit increased dramatically, to the point of always having a fresh box of 20 on standby
Never had that drama when it was 10s
and I know that I wasn’t the only one with that experience
I too increased my Smoking because of the banning of ten Packs. Off them a fair few years now though, thankfully.
I’m with you V on the jump in consumption of cigs per day after the 10 pack was banned.
Fair dues for stopping.
Haven’t cut them out altogether yet myself :)
Shayna rolls. I’m kinda by a few minutes – it’s kinda bad luck to wish after the 12th night?
Where did the HSE suggest banning filters to make cigarettes more harmful? The move to ban filters generally is because of the plastic waste they produce (half of all litter). McDowell is a twit and his editor should be paying better attention.
..smacks bit of mission creep.
oh.
“This isn’t just about Ireland: the world is very much watching,” he said.”
…not really,kinda confused by it all,a flat tax,why not over tax the top shelf?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/04/world/europe/ireland-alcohol-minimum-unit-price.html
If carrying out a comprehensive review of legislation on cigarettes it makes sense to consider all aspects and amend the legislation once.
Prohibition of any drug people enjoy never works. The war on drugs has been waged for decades, costing hundreds of thousands of lives and untold billions, and cocaine/weed/MDMA etc are still all over every first world city every weekend. All to the benefit of organised crime. And attempts to ban alcohol resulted in exactly the same outcome.
Its absolutely insane to even be considering moving backwards on this. Legalise, regulate, and tax is the only outcome that actually works. Let the state ensure a certain level of purity, and make massive profits off of the sale to pay healthcare/public awareness of risks.
Smoking is a bit different in that it also affects people in the vicinity. Second hand smoke is annoying at best and makes outdoor drinking/dining unpleasant for non-smokers. So there’s an argument for smoke free public spaces too.
The only risk from MDMA is second-hand hugs, which is not nearly as unpleasant.
Yeh, screw non smokers though.
Prohibition isn’t required. Cigarettes are not a part of the long-term plans of tobacco companies who see the numbers rapidly declining and know their time is up (in the west at least). They are investing in smokeless technologies, vaping, Cannabis etc with a view to the end of the traditional tobacco market.
..this is good news,i paid 80 euro’s per eight of an ounce of weed in Dublin,really was not very good at all.
“The number of people in Ireland who were issued a summons or charged with cannabis possession fell nearly 50% following reforms that allow for possession to be dealt with by way of caution, rather than prosecution, the Irish Times reports. According to the Garda Press Office, by December 14, 2021, 5,957 people were issued a summons or charged with simple possession in Ireland, down from 11,127 in 2020, and 9,923 in 2019.”
https://www.ganjapreneur.com/irelands-cannabis-possession-charges-drop-nearly-50-following-criminal-reforms/
(the smart money is in hemp,the weed game is full older white guys and gals,trying reinvent themselves by smoking weed,its just not where its at anymore:)
Hemp(extract the CBD)for dogs,no really,15-20 bucks a treat,it works as calming agent,woof woof,it does,go figure and no complaints.
Shayna rolls. I’m kinda by a few minutes – it’s kinda bad luck to wish after the 12th night? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQlmgmR4a4g&list=RDIQlmgmR4a4g&start_radio=1
Happy new year, Shayna!