Why aren't children banned from entering Liquor stores? If the rationale that "out-of-sight-out-of-mind" is valid for cigarettes why not soft-porn on TV and liquor advertising on TV and in the liquor store?
That's not that far away from what I have been hearing. It was bounced around on the radio in the last couple of mornings here in Halifax for people to call in and give their two cents on whether or not warning labels should be placed on alcoholic drinks you get in the liqour store, just like they're on the packs of smokes.
Apparently plenty thought the idea was stupid and a waste of time.... so that makes me wonder.... if it's a waste of time and stupid to put those warnings on alcohol, what sense is there in putting them on smokes?
But if they're already talking about doing this to alcohol..... guess what's next after that?
They were also talking about banning the sale of flavored tobacco like cigarilos and pipe tobacco, ie: Prime Times, etc.
The whole situation of putting smokes out of view has already been in place here in Nova Scotia for about a year now (Give or take) so this isn't anything new, well except to those out west. It doesn't deter me from smoking, it only slows me down with trying to decide what I want because now they have to go into those cubbards and pick them out one at a time until I know what I want, making the line to the register even longer as I figure out what I want.
And you know, I think that's how the government is trying to play the game..... to make people quit due to all the hassel you have to go through to get them.
• Remove all advertisement of tobacco, such as in magazines, tv shoes, commercials, racing events, beer tents/spondored parties, etc.
• Add warnings on the packages with graphic images.
• Increase the taxes on smokes to an insane amount.
• Shut down any smoke shops that have a direct entrace to a pharmacy or a store with a pharmacy.
• Restrict the places you're allowed to smoke, such as near entranceways, patios, decks, near air ducts, bars, restaurants..... and as in some other towns here in Nova Scotia.... attempting to ban smoking in all public areas of town minus the bridge since it's property of the Provience not the town.
• Just recently here in NS, they past the laws where you're not even supposed to be smoking on the property in which you work (No smoke breaks) you're also not supposed smoke inside company cars, esspecially with a co-worker inside the car (Even if both of you smoke)
• Remove the smokes from plain sight of view so you can't see what you can buy and to deter minors from buying any
(But if minors are buying smokes to begin with, shouldn't the cashier be charged with the sale to a minor, not penalize all other smokers?)
And a slew of other stupid ideas..... yet we're all still smoking.
And now they're putting out commercials and a big fight against the illegal sales of tobacco products on the black market, where you can get a big bag of like 250 smokes for 20 bucks or so..... what are their arguments in the commercials?
"With each purchase of illegal tobacco, that's money that goes towards funding organized crime, the provience loses out on the taxes on those smokes that goes towards our children's education and the health industry..... and if you're caught with illegal tobacco, you can face heafty fines and possibly jail time."
^ You know... not because they're anymore dangerous to our health then commercial tobacco products or because they're concerned about our health, just the fact that the government isn't getting their quota of money grabbing from people they addicted by continually allowing it to be legal in the first place..... so since everybody is fed up with the current screwed up system and are seeking alternative sources of tobacco that they can afford for their addicted ways, the government plans on fining and jailing people who seek this route..... when tobacco is technically still a legal product to begin with.
Now the "Illegal" sale of tobacco products in Nova Scotia is spreading like a wild fire, and now that PEI just passed a few of their own laws on tobacco, they're fearing there will be a huge increase of illegal tobacco dealing from Nova Scotia and New Brusnwick to PEI..... which I can bet is already happening.
Heck Tobacco isn't even illegal yet, and here we are already seeing the increase of organized crime due to the restrictions the government is trying to impose on everyone for their own good. It never worked against Alcohol, it's not working against Marijuana or most other drugs, and it's now clearly not working with controlling Tobacco.
If people want to do something, they're damn well gonna do it.... esspecially if they're addicted, and all the restrictions, hoops to jump through and all the taxes you attempt to place on everyone, only makes things worse then they make better.
The whole idea of keeping tobacco out of sight is about as stupid as trying to keep all your cookies in a cookie jar so your kids don't see them..... the kids may not see the cookies, but they know fully well they're there and if they want to get them, they're going to get them.
