You said it perfectly, and from someone who has been directly affected! It is all about nipping it in the bud before people become smokers, as it is an addiction that is hard to break.

Good luck to you, I was finally able to quit after 26 years. Kids don't know what they're doing when they start. ❤

I am a non-smoker, and I have asked this question to a few people. Why would you, in this day in age start smoking when you know the risks? My parents grew up in a time and place where, there were no labels on about lung cancer, mouth cancer and all the awful things that smoking can cause. One smoker said "peer pressure..." Another former smoker (in a different time and place) backed up that peer pressure saying that you go out on a break at work with a bunch of people, you want to feel included...you go out and smoke with them, as the alternative is sitting inside and being discluded. More shockly to me, was a youth I had asked (late High School aged) who said that he started smoking to get back at his mom. I asked him "so you risk your own health to get revenge?" My own dad stopped smoking cold turkey the day I, as a baby, picked up his pack and sucked on one of the ends of his cigerettes. He knew he had to break the cycle.

I was a chain smoker for 41 years. On YouTube search The Flintstones and Winston cigarettes and you'll see the advertising that I had to endure as a kid. They started in 1960. There is hope. Keep trying to quit. One day it'll work.

You mean, could not agree more?

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Just because you can't control your own actions doesn't mean the government should ban other peoples's choices! And talk about shirking responsibility for your own life!

The government makes billions in tax revenue on tobacco. New Zealand will raise their taxes to make up for the shortfall.

There has to be a hard rule in where responsibilty becomes personal. Cigarette butts are hardly the main problem when it comes to cleaning the streets. Healthcare is a great point and that's where you inform people in an everything but subtle manner. But. Bad habits, that are a burden to society are everywhere. We _are_ the bad habit. Our existence as humans is the bad habit of nature. You are totally missing the point of smoking, drinking, driving too fast for sports, boxing, american football, eating a hotdog, eating at mcdonald's, going to a casino or an arcade. It's unnecessary, it even brings some risks along with it, but we need it to relax. Now the downfalls of many of these things are well known, but we need it to compensate. And that's where it becomes a personal choice that guarantees a certain amount of freedom within a society. Having that as a very clear line in the sand, as where society's influence stops and personal responsibility starts is beyond important.

And there is something to say for not banning it. The idea behind it is that it would be spread to widely and the direct health effects would have great impact. The reality is that cocaine use is already widely spread and we're still living. And everyone that has ever used heroine while still enjoying their life, will tell you not to ever use it and never will do it themselves again. As a result it's booming business with criminals running the show. So good point, maybe we should legalize it and treat it the same way as smoking. Inform, tax it heavily and ban the use of it in public places with the exemption of night clubs. Bonus, no criminal networks and the possibility to check product quality. Seems reasonable. Would advice this long before advicing a nanny state situation.

They’re wrong to do that too though.

Yes, much better to stop it before it begins. I have friends who tried to quit smoking, they even replaced their cigarettes with vape (even though you have to illegally import it here to get it with nicotine) and still failed to cut down and went back to cigarettes.