this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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Mildly Interesting
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Or, how about we let people put whatever they want into their own body?
Normally I'd agree, but cigarettes in particular are a product that is designed to be as addictive as possible with a laundry list of negative health impacts and virtually zero positive ones. Combine that with the fact that you aren't just putting it in your body but the body of anyone within breathing distance of you, there's a strong case to be made for banning them outright.
Put it another way, if cigarettes are legal then marijuana, LSD, MDMA, and a whole host of other drugs should be legal too.
Maybe they could just regulate what they put in them instead? Good tobacco is pretty tasty and not insanely addictive. Why not just basically put them in legacy mode?
They’ve already hit a crazy stride with vapes. Maybe they could do a 5-10 year plan where the clean it up while also gaining the foothold that they have with younger people?
Nah, nicotine is very addictive by itself. But yes, the additives make it even worse.
I agree though, it's disappointing that governments don't have better labeling regulations on "sinful" products. Alcohol: why not require a list of ingredients and calories? Cigarettes: same thing, show what it has been processed with, etc? Like how the EU used to require showing how much tar and nicotine each cigarette contained, but realized all the producers started to fake the testing machines by designing holes in the filters (like "light" cigs) where the user's lips would otherwise cover when smoking.