Health experts say axing plan to block sales of tobacco products to next generation will cost thousands of lives

Health experts say axing plan to block sales of tobacco products to next generation will cost thousands of lives

  • idiomaddict@feddit.deEnglish
    102·
    11 months ago

    But the government picks up the payment costs, and the other costs include reduced hospital spaces, which directly impacts other people.

    I understand your perspective if people are truly independent of one another, but we’re not. We rely on one another and impact each other. That means a reduction in freedom for an increase in security.

    I do wish there were a way to opt out, so that people could do whatever they want with their own bodies without harming others, but we’re not there now, so we shouldn’t just accept a reduction in our ability to receive treatment we’re entitled to, to enable freedoms that don’t fit our actual system.

    • Dran@lemmy.worldEnglish
      33·
      11 months ago

      Would you support a law that said public healthcare is unavailable to those who choose to smoke? That would seem to be a reasonable compromise.

      • idiomaddict@feddit.deEnglish
        51·
        11 months ago

        I would want to support that, but with a lot of caveats. If there were no chance of a shortage of hospital beds, and people were grandfathered in and given plenty of warning. There’s also the fact that it’s basically impossible to enforce. It would be easy and strongly incentivized to lie about and very difficult and expensive to investigate.

        It’s also morally difficult, because one cigarette doesn’t cause cancer. I can absolutely see people who aren’t regular smokers and who aren’t increasing their chances of illness bumming a cigarette once a decade- should they lose access to healthcare? I don’t really think so (because the goal isn’t to punish smokers, but to protect non smokers), but I don’t know how you could write a law that would protect them.