No, banning adults from buying cigarettes is too far. Sin taxes are fine, but pretending informed adults shouldn’t take care of themselves is ridiculous.

The UK is quickly becoming the largest nanny state in history, where everything you do or watch or eat or drink must be approved by the government.

[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m not sure which battle you’re fighting, but this is the wrong one.

Please go hang out with people dying of lung cancer. There is zero benefit to smoking. I get personal freedoms, but you sound like a clown for this argument.

Smoking has zero benefit, and only destroys lives and health and medical services. It’s trash that belongs in the bin.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca -1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

At this point who does not know smoking causes cancer? The research is older than my parents.

It’s a fully optional and expensive vice that adults who know the risks partake in. Most places don’t let smokers smoke indoors anymore to reduce second hand smoke risks. Nobody lets kids buy cigarettes.

Alcohol is bad for, should it be banned? How about sugar? People might get hurt rock climbing, should that be banned?

I bring up the slippery slope not as a theory, but because we’re watching it happen in the UK with porn bans, forced identity verification, now criminal prosecution of porn actors, pushes to ban VPNs, and all these vice substances. The UK isn’t at the top of a slope they’re rolling down it.