This is depressing: Foreign Policy rounds up a list of the next countries likely to implement national smoking bans. Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and China are all on the list. It does note that Germany, at least, is backing away from its ban, so the trend isn’t entirely in one direction.
Regardless of your personal preferences, where do you see the future of smoking regulation in the US? Have we reached a tipping point that will inevitably make smoking socially unacceptable? Or will the increasingly untenable and bizarre claims made by anti-smoking groups propel the movement over the shark, allowing smokers and property rights defenders to push back?
I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that, regardless of legal changes, old-fashioned pipe smoking will see a resurgence.
Leave your thoughts in the comments section.
[Via TMN.]
Smoking bans in the US will continue to accumulate and the general rate of smoking in the US will continue to drop as both the costs associated with smoking and its general condemnation rise.
There’s a perfect storm brewing against smoking in this country, and nobody important is speaking out in its defense.
Comment by RumorsDaily — May 6, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
I’m entirely cynical in the other direction on this compared to RumorsDaily. People love their vices. The more smoking is clamped down on, the more it will find illicit outlets. Just the way of Prohibition and the War on Drugs.
So perhaps a ban on smoking is in the future. But I don’t think it’ll last.
On an entirely unrelated note: the author condemning Christian pop culture in your link on the right only cites the most egregiously cheesy aspects of that culture. It seriously makes me wonder if she has any familiarity with that culture at all. Also Jars of Clay kicks ass. And I know a Jew and a [whatever Mike is] that will back me up on that.
Rant over. Please return to tobacco commentary.
Comment by Ben — May 6, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
I don’t think smoking bans on a grand scale in the U.S. will ever find a leg to stand on. No real evidence, but I’m just not seeing it. And maybe that’s just because I only smoke cigars, and that only in private homes, but that’s how I feel. Not to mention, even if we eventually ban smoking in public places, we’ll never reach the point (as we sadly have with drugs) of making a law against, say, “possession of tobacco with intent to distribute”. That’s just nonsense.
Comment by Mike — May 7, 2008 @ 10:21 am
I also doubt there will be an all-out ban, particularly in light of how crucial the tobacco industry has been in our county.
I would predict a future of less habitual cigarrette smoking and more artisinal tobacco consumption. There is a big difference between the two, and the first is really the target of most anti-smoking legislation, though the second often gets swept up. Reasonable exceptions will be carved in the future.
Comment by Matt — May 7, 2008 @ 5:08 pm
Hey Matt,
Oddly enough, I’d be ok with that. I’m opposed to most anti-smoking legislation, of course, but I’d be very happy to see habitual cigarette smoking go by the way side while occasional pipe and cigar smoking gains in popularity.
Comment by Jacob Grier — May 7, 2008 @ 8:50 pm