2 ms·
I think there’s some nuance here. You can’t totally prohibit something people really want to do, but you can pretty effectively prohibit something almost no one
by ch4s3 4y ago
I think there’s some nuance here. You can’t totally prohibit something people really want to do, but you can pretty effectively prohibit something almost no one wants to do or where there is a very good substitute.
Having a tiny landmass, and no land borders also helps. It’s possible to grown tobacco hydroponically but I’m not sure if anyone would bother unless there was an overnight hard ban.
- livueta 4y agoThat's a reasonable line of thought, but NZ already has a fairly robust black market for tobacco products: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/12/17/new-zealands-plan-to-outlaw-smoking-for-the-next-generation-is-misguided https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/12/17/new-zealands-pl... > a tenth of the tobacco consumed in 2019 in New Zealand was illicit. which is broadly similar to the US market, if admittedly on the low end: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/19016/understanding-the-us-illicit-tobacco-market-characteristics-policy-context-and https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/19016/understandin... > the portion of the total U.S. tobacco market represented by illicit sales has grown in recent years and is now between 8.5 percent and 21 percent I think a lot of people underestimate how difficult combating smuggling is, even with a tiny landmass and no land borders. Nobody's checking every container, much less package.
- ch4s3 4y agoThat’s very true, and I wouldn’t claim it could be 100% effective. Even East Germany had rock albums smuggled in.