China To Ban Smoking

[Matty]

Only 5-10% of the current amount of people smoking would still be a great improvement.

[roddy]

Hong Kong's done a pretty good job, but it has a much more obedient citizenry. They don't even eat on public transport.*

 

Don't know if a ban will happen. I'd suggest a better option for government might be to tax smoking into oblivion as the UK is doing - something like 80% of the cost of a pack in the UK is tax and duty. Given that the government basically owns the supply chain, maybe it could stop tax-dodging. But I think most of the tobacco is grown over those far-away mountains, and if successful it'd be politically unpopular.

 

A ban on smoking in public - I can see it working partially, and a partial success is still a success. Any double-figure percentage drop would be a win, and these kind of laws aren't just about giving the police something to enforce, it's about sending a message on what social norms are. Sure, some will ignore the rules, but we can say the same about murder and drink-driving. The bulk of drink-driving enforcement in the UK isn't done by police, its done by friends and family disapproving. 

 

*old story, I've probably told it before on here. Maybe in this topic. Friend in Hong Kong posted a picture on Facebook of discarded orange peel on a bus, complaining about how social morals were going to pot. This seemed a ridiculously minor thing to complain about. I showed the picture to another Hong Kong friend here in London without telling her where the pic was from: "What? Orange peel? So what?" - "This was in Hong Kong" - "Really!? Oh my God, that's really bad."