What are people’s thoughts here? I could understand removing all the lolly flavours and regulating like other tobacco products. I am an ex-smoker but I personally feel like this is govt over-reach. That might be an out-dated mindset of my time & generation (genX), however. So I’m interested to get some insight into how the broader population view this issue, particularly the younger generations, in both an overall opinion, but also in regards to such govt controls of recreational substances vs an individual’s right of freedom to choose.
Yeah, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be treated exactly like cigarettes.
From October that’ll pretty much be the case, except only purchasable at a pharmacy. I can’t see why they shouldn’t be sold at servos, etc., but I don’t think it’s a massive problem in terms of personal freedoms. It’ll give pharmacies a cash boost, and maybe even cause expansion of their opening hours in some cases, which could be helpful.
In any case, I think that the deal the Greens got is probably the best one Labor were ever going to give.
I’m not sure I understand the Greens position on vapes. Are they pro-tobacco or something? or is it about creating a black market?
The Greens have always been against prohibition more broadly, but they can articulate their reasoning better than I can: https://greens.org.au/news/media-release/greens-secure-amendments-vaping-legislation-and-will-support-passage-through
I’m a Millennial.
I found the idea of banning vapes to be pretty hypocritical of the government.
Like the idea that we don’t want children getting addicted to nicotine is a good goal to strive towards, However to ban the only source of nicotine dependence that doesn’t get taxed by the government while leaving cigarettes alone felt really dodgy to me.
I don’t see them as any different to cigarettes personally. Just one more way for giant corporations to get people hooked on addictive shit with no upside. Fuck Jool. Fuck Philip Morris.
These companies spend millions knowingly breaking the law over and over and then get to keep operating regardless? Their executives should be in prison.
The giant corps are the ones massively involved in the black market :(
It’s probably not realistic to say no upside, as people usually do stuff for reasons even if it’s terrible overall. Like a bizarrely high proportion of people with schitzophrenia take nicotine so there probably is something it’s doing that helps in the moment.
There’s gonna be a market one way or the other. IMHO the government should step in to make it tightly controlled and low profit (if not nationalised). Also we should lynch everyone who’s ever taken a dollar of tobacco money but idk how broad support for that is.
As a non-smoker, I find vapes far less obnoxious in terms of odour.
The main problem I had with it all is the waste. Seeing cigarette butts and single use vape cartridge litter the streets makes me mad.
I’m a big fan of do what you want as long as you don’t make it my problem.
Ban cigarette filters, ban single use vapes. The rest I couldn’t care less about.
If prohibition doesn’t work then why ban vaping? If prohibition does work then why not ban smoking? The billions in tax money is why.
