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Prohibition has worked for a very long time to control the widespread use of many materials, chemicals, and practices (ie building codes) across the world. Alco

Prohibition has worked for a very long time to control the widespread use of many materials, chemicals, and practices (ie building codes) across the world. Alcohol is relatively simple to create and store, and to hide consumption. Alcohol is effective at almost any quality, that doesn't immediately kill you. Cigarettes are a very different beast from alcohol. Unlike marijuana, given the data on second-hand smoke, many people would be eager to report use of cigarettes wherever it was found. Growing the tobacco is another big issue for producers. I don't believe there's a compelling set of reasons indicating cigarette prohibition would be ineffective. In 2 generations, I'm not sure why anyone would be making cigarettes...when they could make alcohol easier.

mmsimanga 4y ago
South Africa has high taxes on cigarettes making cigarettes relatively expensive. The result is black market of unregistered cigarette brands. A good number come across illegally from neighbouring countries. Perhaps NZ being an island nation might be able to control illegal imports better.
- Supermancho 4y ago
  > The result is black market of unregistered cigarette brands. A good number come across illegally from neighbouring countries. Perhaps NZ being an island nation might be able to control illegal imports better. This is in the short term. This is also a slightly different situation, which is beyond the land-access. High taxes are an implicit indication it's still ok and for the wealthy, making it a status symbol. Banning cigarettes in NZ will put pressure on future generations to not start at all. This will not be 100% effective, granted for the next generation. From a cost-benefit perspective, if you are going to bring in black market products, why not get people started on meth? Meth has become quite prevalent in much of africa and partly because it's cheap.

mmsimanga 4y ago

South Africa has high taxes on cigarettes making cigarettes relatively expensive. The result is black market of unregistered cigarette brands. A good number come across illegally from neighbouring countries. Perhaps NZ being an island nation might be able to control illegal imports better.

Supermancho 4y ago
> The result is black market of unregistered cigarette brands. A good number come across illegally from neighbouring countries. Perhaps NZ being an island nation might be able to control illegal imports better. This is in the short term. This is also a slightly different situation, which is beyond the land-access. High taxes are an implicit indication it's still ok and for the wealthy, making it a status symbol. Banning cigarettes in NZ will put pressure on future generations to not start at all. This will not be 100% effective, granted for the next generation. From a cost-benefit perspective, if you are going to bring in black market products, why not get people started on meth? Meth has become quite prevalent in much of africa and partly because it's cheap.