A new report published today by Forest challenges the government's attachment to "creeping prohibition".
Rob Lyons, author of ‘Prohibition: A bad idea that won’t go away’, argues:
- 19th century campaigns against alcohol were in favour of temperance – that is, abstinence as a moral choice for self-improvement – rather than bans based on the assumption that governments know what is best for us.
- Prohibition of alcohol in the United States in the 1920s created a black market that enriched mobsters and encouraged law-breaking, bribery and corruption.
- Creeping prohibition is now a feature of the war on tobacco. Ten packs, smaller pouches of hand-rolled tobacco, flavoured rolling tobacco and menthol-flavoured cigarettes have all been banned. Taxation has also been used as a weapon to effectively prohibit the poor from smoking.
- Regulations applied to tobacco are increasingly being used as a template for any product considered ‘unhealthy’ by health campaigners.
- Banning products will not put an end to demand. The major beneficiaries of the ban on menthol cigarettes will be criminal gangs and illicit traders. Victims will include law-abiding consumers and legitimate retailers.
- The health risks associated with smoking are well known. In a free society adults must be allowed to make the ‘wrong’ choices. As long as we are not harming other people it is not for government to restrict our choices without very good reason.
- Prohibition robs adults of choice and, in an important sense, robs us of our humanity as well. Even those with little interest in the rights of smokers to choose what flavour of cigarette they smoke should be worried. After ten packs, flavoured rolling tobacco and menthol cigarettes, what will governments decide to ban next?
‘Prohibition: A bad idea that won’t go away’ is available here.