Thread: Australian court OKs logo ban on cigarette packs

Well, I don't know if it is entirely any governments sole doing. Governments only respond if they sense a big enough and loud enough lobby by different groups otherwise they are happy with the status quo. Why do anything and upset people if you don't have too. I still think it is on the shoulders of the lobbyists who don't understand reasonable compromise and refuse to call a mission accomplished at that point. Too many squeaking wheels out there that have already had their fair share of grease.

Bob

In the year 2012 if you dont know that cigarettes are bad for you then you have a bigger problem.....
And no im not anti-smoking i actually been smoking for more then 30 + years. I wonder what would happen if you had a nasty picture of a rotten
liver on a bottle of french wine...........

Originally Posted by eleblu05

Australian court OKs logo ban on cigarette packs

so what is your thoughts on this gents
i'm in the middle i lost my grandfather to smoking but i also dont like the government telling me what to do. by the way i'm a non smoker

Tobacco is an addictive substance to varying degrees, depending on the individual. This is an inhumane way to treat people, many of whom wish they didn't smoke.

I would smoke if it wasn't dangerous, addictive, and expensive because I liked it, and July 13 marked 20 years I have been smoke free. One day I wasn't feeling well and Dan Rather did a piece on the radio saying, "Why don't people do what their bodies tell them to do?" He went on to say that a friend of his trying to quit smoking had stopped for something like 106 days. Whether divine intervention with the coincidence of being ill and listening to that program or what, I was freed of the need to do this and am grateful. But I know from my experience that threats, insults, or anything else of the sort wouldn't have worked. They would have simply made me hate myself more for a desire to do something that one day may take my life.

The other argument I suppose is that this is all about sacrificing the feelings of current smokers in order to discourage future generations from starting. Everybody knows by now that smoking is not a good idea from a health standpoint. The allure to children inclined to try it is that it is dangerous and illegal to minors.

So let's be polite while as a society making people aware of the consequences of their actions.

What are the 9 most dangerous words anyone can hear?
-"I'm from the gov't. and I'm here to help."

Possibly even more frightening, "for the greater good". You are always wondering for who's greater good.

Bob

The argument always centers around this cost/benefit model of health. Along with that is this idea of "deserving" and "undeserving". I've heard the argument go like this: "The money spent on treating a [undeserving] cigarette smoker's health issues could be spent instead on treating the health issues of [deserving] non-smokers."

While many people do not see the problem with this line of thought, I personally feel it is the beginning of a very slippery moral slope. I fear we have already slipped a fair way down it.

By the way, I do not think categorising this issue into broad political boxes is helpful to the debate. I am very left wing, for example, and I have huge issues with the anti-smoking lobby and how they have gone about their campaign. And on the other hand, I have very right wing acquaintances who wholeheartedly back anti-smoking. The way I see it, this is not (or should not be) a political issue - it is a moral issue and a civil liberties issue.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

The argument always centers around this cost/benefit model of health. Along with that is this idea of "deserving" and "undeserving". I've heard the argument go like this: "The money spent on treating a [undeserving] cigarette smoker's health issues could be spent instead on treating the health issues of [deserving] non-smokers."

While many people do not see the problem with this line of thought, I personally feel it is the beginning of a very slippery moral slope. I fear we have already slipped a fair way down it.

By the way, I do not think categorising this issue into broad political boxes is helpful to the debate. I am very left wing, for example, and I have huge issues with the anti-smoking lobby and how they have gone about their campaign. And on the other hand, I have very right wing acquaintances who wholeheartedly back anti-smoking. The way I see it, this is not (or should not be) a political issue - it is a moral issue and a civil liberties issue.

James.

I've been around long enough to remember when I was a kid and in my 20s when smoking was very socially acceptable and it seemed to me everyone smoked, true or not. Personally, I have no issues if folks want to kill themselves be it with drug use or smoking or alcohol. What I do have issues with is being forced to be exposed to someone else's smoke be it in a car or a restaurant or anyplace else. No one has the right to force me to inhale their poison. Back in those days the attitude was, if you don't like the smoke it's your problem. I think the anti-smoking folks deserve a medal. It has taken years and effort to battle the tobacco companies and smokers to get where we are now. I don't think putting ugly pictures on boxes will do anything. Money can be better spent to keep kids away from tobacco in a different way.

If you want to smoke go out and do it away from me. It's not my responsibility to go out of my way to avoid you.

I have lost several relatives to cancer through smoking and second hand smoke and when they were healthy they laughed about smoking risks. However I will tell you this, in each case when they got the bad news that they had little time left to live they all very much regretted ever smoking, well, except for one crusty uncle, he couldn't care less and beat the grim reaper by hanging himself.

My rant for the day.

James

Very well put. You are back to just who gets to determine exactly who is or is not deserving. Pretty scary thing to play God but them some like to do it and that is scarier yet.

Bob

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I've been around long enough to remember when I was a kid and in my 20s when smoking was very socially acceptable and it seemed to me everyone smoked, true or not. Personally, I have no issues if folks want to kill themselves be it with drug use or smoking or alcohol. What I do have issues with is being forced to be exposed to someone else's smoke be it in a car or a restaurant or anyplace else. No one has the right to force me to inhale their poison. Back in those days the attitude was, if you don't like the smoke it's your problem. I think the anti-smoking folks deserve a medal. It has taken years and effort to battle the tobacco companies and smokers to get where we are now. I don't think putting ugly pictures on boxes will do anything. Money can be better spent to keep kids away from tobacco in a different way.

If you want to smoke go out and do it away from me. It's not my responsibility to go out of my way to avoid you.

I have lost several relatives to cancer through smoking and second hand smoke and when they were healthy they laughed about smoking risks. However I will tell you this, in each case when they got the bad news that they had little time left to live they all very much regretted ever smoking, well, except for one crusty uncle, he couldn't care less and beat the grim reaper by hanging himself.

My rant for the day.

I would find acceptable, as a smoker , non eligability to public health should I become chronically ill with a smoking related disease. It would be my choice as to whether I smoked or not so long as I have the correct information to make that choice. I agree that as a smoker one should be considerate of others, and not smoke where my exhaust would breathed in by others. Jimbo I am not much impressed with the extreme right either !


Cheers

Heelerau

If the Australian government was serious, it would just ban tobacco, however they are just a reflection of todays Australian. You just have to look at how the government farts around and does nothing of any real value, unless you call window dressing valuable, to get an idea of the sort of people Aussies are today. There are always normal people in the fringes of course, but they're as powerless, or as apathetic as everyone else in this country. We have a weak government and an even weaker population, who just sit back on their respective arses and spout good old Aussie phrases like "She'll be right mate", which is just a lazy excuse to do nothing whatsoever about any given situation.
We are a bunch of wowsers! We are also a bunch of whingers! Bitching on this forum, about what the goverment is doing, is going to do bugger all about the subject. Bitching to the government, and having your voice heard is the only hope of having anything done...Unless those government ears are deaf from hearing the louder voice of the opposite faction. Which does seem to be the case here. I know I signed petitions against this move, but many wouldn't have.
As a smoker, I always try to keep it to the areas designated for smokers when in public (though they are few and far between), and even then I try to show my fellow public the respect they deserve, by asking first if they mind me lighting my pipe. It gives them the chance to make a decision for themselves. At home I go outside and shut the door so my children don't have to breathe my secondary smoke. My neighbours don't have a say in it, but they're all more than the lawful required minimum distance away anyway.
I can go days (weeks in fact) without having a smoke, but the fact is, I actually enjoy it for reflection and thought time. A way to slow the pace down for a few minutes. Just my two bobs worth anyway.


Mick