What has brought on this new hobby horse just out of curiosity?
Lost 3 family members in the last 10 years to smoking. So got reading on what got the highest success rates to quitting, and recently saw the new laws passed by NSW and SA state governments. I also quit doing it for 2 weeks after 25 years of smoking. Havenāt touched any of it in nearly a year
For my own personal point of view
But I understand why a government may not be ready to fully endorse them yet. Unlike you, I donāt think the research done so far is ātonnesā, so there could be a legit claim to want more. There are also all sorts of questions about regulations re construction, contents, standards from one country to another etc. I do believe they will eventually be a recognised and legal device however.
1 Like
I just wonder if the US, UK, most of EU and New Zealand have all given it the tick, why we seem to be doubling down on the enforcements.
Something doesnāt add up and as we know, policy in Australia is for sale
Havenāt you noticed our massive Tobacco excise? Must be about 97% of the cost of a packet of Cigs at this point, it was 90% before these huge increases came in.
Very big source of Gov revenue.
1 Like
Stop skirting around the edges and just tell everybody what you think is the reason.
7 Likes
E Cigarettes are shortly to be banned in Hong Kong - Though HK closely follows what happens in Australia - Many people in the Anti-Smoking Lobby have made a good career so itās in their interests to have E-Smoking banned - We donāt want too many to swap from normal cigarettes or these people may lose their jobs and influence.
Enforcement? Iāve not heard of anyone being busted for vaping nicotine, or supplying it in liquid form for that matter. Maybe it happens.
Nicotine is poison, yes. Like many other drugs including alcohol, dangerous if you get it wrong.
I donāt think the research is conclusive by any stretch. Almost impossible to run a large case-control study given confounding factors (ie most e-cig users being former smokers). Still, from a harm minimisation perspective itās hard to see how it isnāt safer than smoking.
That article I shared from the rcp pretty much says that even with current information they have available currently they can deduce
That reason alone it should be considered more seriously.
The takeaway from that study was this essentially
@Reboot, there is a secondary reason for this hobby horse, I thought someone may have picked up by now.
Government: vaping? science, what do you say?
Science: not enough evidence to say definitively itās safe or not
Government: ok guys, you heard the scientists!
Science: while we are on the topic, we do have a consensus on climate changeā¦
Government: what the ā ā ā ā would you guys know.
1 Like
Thing is, and this might be hard to believe, but Nicotine is actually good for your health in small doses,
Good for memory lowering stress, Heart health / reduces risk of Heart attack, ā¦ tās always been the way we ingest it thatās done the damage.
It;s also already in lots of things we eat such as Egg plant.
Absolutely rediculous that you have to get your vaping liquid with 3mls of nicotine from New Zealand. It has been proven in the UK that people who vape are more likely to give up smoking. Fricken Nanny state. They would probably want more people smoking cigs so their tax revenues would not fall. We have Bill Shorten saying that he would put the price of cigs up to 40 dollars because his dad died from lung cancer so all smokers should suffer and I am a labour voter most of the time.
1 Like
Cigarettes are 100% a poor persons tax
3 Likes
Australia can be a very annoyingly conservative. It was a farce it took us as long as it did to legalise SSM. Weāve done well on the health warnings RE: cigs but we could be so much more progressive in other areas, particularly illicit drugs.
The whole pill testing issue rumbling on in NSW is a joke - how many times does it have to be proven that the war on drugs has failed utterly? You will never stop people from taking drugs, educate the populace about the risks and provide methods to make sure the populace is as safe as they can be if they decide to take said drugs (testing kits, safe injecting sites). Itās not that ā ā ā ā ā ā ā difficult.
At Senate Estimates the OAIC said there had been a 42% increase in requests for review of FOI decisions in the last 6 months.
Seemingly, no questions asked about Departments knocking back requests or pretending to have responded positively by supplying publicly available documents, but not the documents requested.
2 Likes
OAIC is one of the most under resourced agencies in the APS.
The OAIC said resources were only part of the problem. That response could suggest that agencies are not playing by the FOI rules.
There is zero consequence for not supplying documents and stonewalling, so they dont care. This must change as itās becoming a bit of a joke now. Throw somebody in jail until documents are produced because it should be as serious offence as contempt of court as far as Iām concerned.
2 Likes
And throw that grinning idiot Cash in the hoosegow until she farking answers the questions put to her too.
Lying obfuscating harpie it is,
Really want someone/something to knock the smug right out of her.
7 Likes