Australia Bans Smoking
 

From 1st January 2013, if you come to Australia, leave the cigarettes at home because bringing them into Australia will just be like bringing in weed or other drugs. :helpme

Here's the news story, apparently it was covered on Lateline on the ABC tonight with an interview with the health minister.

very nice :thumbsup

Зачот and very nice, I approve thier message!

They were already pretty tough on smoking in recent years

Now it's going to be completely illegal. Gonna be alot of upset people at pubs tonight.

List of smoking bans in Australia

That is awesome!

they are a couple of hours ahead, so early April fools?

Interesting stuff!

Nah, they introduced free prescriptions for nicotine replacement , eg patches, champix and other drugs early this year, it now costs PBS prescription prices for 3 months supply of stop smoking patches. In effect a box of patches was $30 bucks, now almost free.

We knew this was coming, the passed the plain packaging laws without one single federal member voting against it before Kevin Rudd was dismissed, even though the Libs take money from big tobacco.

Australia can't afford to keep it's health system going with the cost to the community of smoking illness.

they should ban alcohol too then, it's not less dangerous.

and cars, considering there are many accidents that kill people.

They should govern the country, not our lives, but really this has been on the cards a long time, it's just taken a reformist government to have the balls to do it. NZ has considered the same thing in the past.

fuck them... and i don't smoke

Great, another draconian law in Australia! :mad:

Oh wait, no it isn't. It's actually about time a country stepped up and did this. I approve the abolishing of this filthy habit. Canada next please.

I wonder if in 2013 people will smuggle smokes in to the country up their ass!

thanks for the reminder, going to turn gfy off for the next 2 days :winkwink:

alcohol does not do as much damage.. not even close... You have mixed it up with weed..

car argument is invalid, not the same thing in the least.

they're just gonna create a huge underground market.

Earlier this year this happened.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...01/3126580.htm

huh? no one dies from smoking weed. lots of people die from alcohol, be it over a lifetime or in a drunk driving accident, etc, etc,...

If besides the health problems, you throw in drunk driving accidents, drunks beating their wives, etc... it's gotta be in the same ballpark.... :2 cents:

Tobacco lobby wouldn't allow this...

Health and car insurance covers accidents, car and otherwise. It won't cover you if you get sick from smoking, so the cost to the community of smoking problems is higher.

They are already campaigning against it, but I think it's too late.

http://www.news.com.au/national/chee...-1226031535298

...and cars is probably not the best analogy, but sports cars would be... one could argue that sports cars are more dangerous than normal cars, and they don't contribute anything useful except some entertainment for the owner, at a cost of reduced safety for everyone...

You can have a drink or two and have no ill effects from it.

You can have a few drinks a few times a week and have no problem with it.

Cigarettes are addicting. Smoke a few and you most likely will be hooked.
When you smoke a cigarette it is affecting your body and your health instantly and has an accumulative effect as you continue to do it.

Of course alcohol can be abused but it can also be consumed responsibly with no ill effect to your health. The same can't be said about smoking cigarettes.

How is someone going to get covered when some drunk kills some innocent person while driving under the influence?

your sarcasm detector is broken...


but: weed is of all drugs surely the most harmless, opposed to nicotine and alcohol it's not addictive (physically)


and i just found this:

We have the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), they insure everyone involved in a road accident as part of your car registration fee, doesn't matter how you are hurt, it's a no fault system. That's why it costs $600 a year to register your car in Victoria.

hope the government gets sued

You can't sue the Government for making a law , you can only challenge it if its constitutionally invalid as a law in the High Court. The precedent is already there anyway, they ban other drugs that used to be legal. Some barbiturates were legal in Australia until 1957.

Ok, so now we need to get into the tobacco running business.... Its gonna make MILLIONS!!!

Everytime a government bans something that people want, smart people make HUGE amounts of money!

I need to get busy. Thanks for this heads up!



:)


:)


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I think you missed the point... so as long as everyone is covered by some insurance all is good? those that die or get paralyzed for life because of a drunk driver just drew the short straw in life?

weather you like cigerettes or not it's just another way of taking freedom from people..... if they care about people's health so much then almost all fast food places and soda pop companies should be banned too.

Good find madalton.


Yup, Alcohol will be next. We can go right back to the prohibition days!!

Look at how good it worked during prohibition in the US, or the "war on drugs"! That has been a great thing also!



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I'm not surprised by this, and I have no doubt that in 30-50 years time most countries in the world will ban the sale of cigarettes. This may seem unbelievable now, but then again, who would have thought 30 years ago that you would not be allowed to smoke in public places including some parks.

Cigarettes are a legal drug. Alcohol is too of course, but the key difference is alcohol can be consumed in small quantities with no effects on health. In some cases it might actually be good for you.

Cigarettes are plain and simple deadly, and therefore there is no reason for them to be allowed on sale.

I'm guessing countries around the world are waiting for the first to ban them completely, then others will follow suit. Tax revenue or not it will happen in my opinion.

By the way I'm a smoker trying to give up, so if I was unable to buy them at all, that would be a huge help. :)

Therapeutic nicotine like nicotine gum, patches etc will still be legal, so people can give up without going cold turkey on New Years Eve 2012 but it will mean that possession or import of cigarettes or other tobacco will get you jail time when the ban takes effect.

Hey AdultKing, I just hit you up on ICQ. Please get back to me when you get a chance

I'm on a mobile device through our VPN at the moment and ICQ wont work on it, I won't be on IM until after 1pm GMT +10

lol! who believes this crap ? not one news link ..


april fools yall!

i am not against alcohol and i am not "for" cigarettes but how many crimes are commited while people are drunk? how many rapes are blamed on being drunk? sure, maybe buddy only drinks once a month but then gets in his car and kills people. he still did more damage that a guy who smoked all his life. i know lots of people who only smoke when they drink, so they can't be addicted...one thing about cigarettes, at least it won't turn people into psychotic lunatics like alcohol can.

This just in.....

Australia faces huge downward spiral of tax revenue following its' ban on smoking. Country can no longer afford health care or maintain roads....

News at 11

Thats the PBS announcement on PBS nicotine patches

http://www.pbs.gov.au/info/publicati...cotine_patches

So ni cigs at all anywhere? Not even in nature?
awesome:)

I despise cigarettes. Absolutely cannot stand them and hate smelling the smoke. I do not support this law.

The following argument is often thrown around: "it will save the economy so much money!" And while true, that same argument could be said for an endless amount of situations. War of course, required state service, banning soda and other junk foods, the list goes on and on.

The tobacco industry is certainly not innocent. In fact, they are quite possibly evil. We need more than the "our economy will save money" and "improve health" arguments to completely ban something that has been ingrained into the lives of millions of people for generations.

Anywho, maybe Australians don't smoke like Americans do so it won't be a big deal to them. Curious what it might do to tourism.

This just in.....

Australia faces crisis trying to monitor its' borders as every person with a ship, boat, dingy and inflatable raft is headed to Australia with a shipment of Marlboro Reds'. Country can no longer afford to increase the size of its' policing due to budget cuts from lack of tax revenue from the prohibition of cigarettes...

News at 11

News at 11

Govt report on backlash against smoking control legislation

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/preventativehealth/publishing.nsf/Content/0FBE203C1C547A82CA257529000231BF/$File/commpaper-imp-tob-cont-strat.pdf

constitutionally invalid and also discrimination. are fast food restaurants being banned? what about motor vehicle transportation? these are all things that have a huge health impact and costs the state money, but they only choose to go after the vice that just happens not to make political payments?

Australia has an almost 50% tax on tobacco yet that leaves a massive shortfall in the health budget looking after cancer patients. Banning smokes will save money.

Good news if it's true.

THIS.. :thumbsup

+ for Madalton: If you drink alcohol , you do NOT damage health of others around you. So no, its not the same as alcohol.