Forget health, anti-smoking laws are about control
Monday, December 15, 2014 at 8:56 We've made the front page of the Scottish Daily Mail this morning.
On page 2 I'm quoted as follows:
"This is a taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. We don't condone people smoking in cars with children but these are private vehicles and we are concerned that the next logical step will be to try to ban smoking in homes as well.
"This will be excessive and almost impossible to enforce. If a car is going 30 or 40mph, police will not be able to say if there was a child in the car and I'm sure the police have better things to do."
Jackson Carlaw, health spokesman for the Scottish Tories', appears to share our view:
"We are reluctant to resort to legislation as we are concerned about not only enforceability but also the diversion of police resources."
Scottish Labour, however, support legislation and the SNP-led Scottish Government is "broadly sympathetic" to the Bill which is being put forward by Lib Dem MSP Jim Hume.
The next step, as we've always said, will be a ban on smoking in all private vehicles followed by bans in other private spaces including, eventually, the home.
Interestingly, figures published last week revealed a rise in the number of smokers in Scotland. "Scotland is losing the war on tobacco" reports the Mail, in a separate article.
According to the Scottish Household Survey 23.1 of adults were smoking in 2013, up from 22.9 in 2012. So much for "making progress".
Of course the knee-jerk reaction to failure is to push for more legislation, backed up by fines and other penalties, until it becomes physically impossible for an adult to smoke without breaking the law.
Forget health. This is about control.
Reader Comments (5)
Of course it's not about health. This is about tobacco control pushing the hate campaign against legit consumers a bit further by basically saying that we are such drug addicted child abusers only the heavy hand of the law can save our "victims" and stop us harming our children because, of course, everyone knows how selfish those darned filthy, stinking smokers are.
That's why the ban is offensive and should be fought. I don't condone anyone having a pop at smokers who do not smoke in their car but if they do then it's because the product is legal and they own the property where a legal product is used.
If they, or Forest, cannot condone adults using a legit product on their own private property then campaign for that product to be made illegal - or start condoning and supporting those families who set their own policies on smoking on their own private properties after discussion with their families because, frankly, whether people smoke or not is no one else's business.
What was I saying yesterday about extremism? Try not to get drawn into supporting that extremism with the use of language that is offensive to smokers.
These people are insane, the car one would be impossible to enforce and as for the home, even harder to enforce, not to mention the height of nanny state control. I'm an ex-smoker but I would start smoking again if they banned it in my home. What I do in my home is entirely up to me, not some crazy control freak Scottish MSP who doesn't even know me.
And this is exactly why Alan Auld, a fellow Scotsman, is hell bent on taking legal action against these tobacco fanatics! Support is growing and a crack legal team is being put together to mount his legal challenge because as Alan himself says, "they have stolen my social life with this idiotic ban". And this is not mention the colossal damage done to the hospitality sector nationwide! Can you help? Do you want your indoor smoking room back? Do you want freedom of choice to run your business as you see fit/best? Then join the fight here --> http://www.justice4smokers.co.uk/?page_id=305 and support your fellow smokers & non smokers that are toatally against these bigots who basically refuse to acknowledge exhaust fumes etc!
Politicians have no credibility because of false reasons for their smoking ban & tobacco control.There is no reason for them to live off tax.
It is unfortunate and somewhat ironic that an understandable desire for independence or at least decentralised government is motivating Scots to vote for possibly the most illiberal, authoritarian party in British politics.