Freedom Of Choice Should Never Become A Radical Idea In A Democratic Society

Smoking
 Is Not
The Issue

10 Pack Cigarette Ban (13/08/06)

In a bizarre attempt to discourage people from smoking the Irish government has decided to ban the sale of 10 packs of cigarettes from October.

In one of the most irrational in a long line of measures to reduce the prevalence of smoking the Irish Government is to ban the sale of cigarettes in packs of ten from a proposed date of October the 2nd. Instead of choosing to buy cigarettes in packs of ten smokers will now be forced to buy cigarettes in quantities of twenty. How this will help reduce smoking is not clear, but is another anti-smoker measure introduced by the government at the behest of ASH 

ASH Chairman, Luke Clancy seems to believe that forcing people to buy more cigarettes than they would choose were they to have a choice will somehow help prevent people from smoking. Ignoring the fact it is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18 he says "the main incentive is to stop children from buying cigarettes before they become smokers."

The people most likely to suffer as a result of this measure will be those on low incomes and the elderly who make do with ten packs. Also people trying to reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke by only buying ten at a time will now be forced to purchase in quantities of twenty increasing the chances they will smoke more. However this seems to be of no matter to ASH and the anti smoking lobby who "welcomed" the measure delighted at yet another ban imposed on smokers by the government at their request.

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