• Lauchs@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Ehhhhhh, you make it permanently harder for a generation and eventually, barring a political change, you need to find an 80 year old to boot cigarettes for you from that one shop down the road that still caters to a rapidly shrinking audience.

    Not to say that this is a good idea or one with which but long-term, it could work. (Or at least reduce smoking to a relatively minor few.)

    • gnutrino@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      It’s a nice theory but it does sort of forget that other countries exist - the black marketeers will just smuggle tobacco in. They’re also going to be guaranteed a market of younger immigrants who’ve gotten addicted in another country.

      • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Sure, at first, absolutely, though even then you are raising the cost of smokes, not just financially but convenience, potential customer base (not everyone has the connections or would feel comfortable buying on the resale market) etc.

        Long run, sure, smokers will probably always exist. But at the point where it’s awkward to smoke in public you’ve probably cut down on a good percentage of smoking at all.

    • M500@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Eventually stores will just stop selling them. Why stock cigarette when you only sell 10 packs a month.

      I think it’s a great idea. People will create a black market for them, but it will be really small and die out.

      It’s not like you really get anything from it like you do from alcohol or other drugs.

      • e-ratic@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        People will create a black market for them, but it will be really small and die out.

        There’s already a black market for tobacco, and it will just grow in size not shrink. You can buy 50g for like £5 on DNMs.

        • jonne@infosec.pub
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, the risk is that if the black market becomes large enough, it will mean youths will have easier access to cheaper cigarettes than the current situation (with the added issue of cigarettes being entirely unregulated, meaning they’re going to put God knows what in them).

      • Lauchs@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s not like you really get anything from it like you do from alcohol or other drugs.

        Similar ehhhhhh as earlier.

        There are moments when a cigarette gives you an amazing or just right, feeling, for lack of a better word. In reality you’re just sating a self inflicted addiction, but it can feel great to do so.

        I don’t think it’s a good trade, that’s why I no longer smoke, but I understand the simple pleasure. Even if in the long, medium, heck, often even short term that pleasure has stupid costs.