Anti-smoking legislation could be an affront to freedom

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Plans to amend legislation around smoking and vaping have been in the pipeline for some time now. Two months ago, however, the Department of Health revealed that it would be submitting its plans to the cabinet early this year.

Most people are in favour of stricter smoking laws. It is well-known that smoking is bad for us. We have also heard that it is bad for the people around us. Everybody has the choice, though, whether we would like to inflict harm upon our bodies in the privacy of our own homes or not. We have the choice whether or not to buy cigarettes. We may keep on smoking and yes – we may even to continue with our silly vaping.

Let’s get to the real victims here...

The New Smoking Laws

Many things are about to change, should this bill be approved by Parliament. The Department of Health’s draft legislation aims to prohibit smoking in all public areas, whether indoors or outdoors. Smoking areas in bars, clubs or restaurants will become a thing of the past, lost forever to the history books. We will not be allowed to smoke anywhere outdoors within 10m of a public entrance or window.

They have plans to ban the display of cigarettes at retailers. What exactly will happen to all the tobacconists is still up in the air. Furthermore, in the government’s wider war against cigarettes, all recognisable branding will be removed from cigarette packs. Only the name of the brand will remain. Presumably in the dullest font imaginable upon a plain, ugly-coloured pack. No doubt they’ll keep the usual smoking warnings. It may also be possible that these will be accompanied by gruesome anti-smoking images. We’ve already seen this implemented in Australia to great effect.

Read the full article on CompareGuru.