Tougher tobacco controls means less freedom for all

Monday June 2, 2008

Stigmatising smokers threatens every single one of us, even non-smokers, says Brian Monteith

The relentless grind towards the alienation and persecution of smokers is continuing with the announcement, by the Department of the Health, of a public consultation on proposals to ban the point of sale display of tobacco, cigarette vending machines, and packets of ten cigarettes.

But why should those of us who don’t hanker after a fag care? What’s it to us if further restrictions make smoking more difficult or socially unacceptable?

Here’s why. If we really want to do something about smoking, the latest proposals could, perversely, do more harm than good. Not only do they affect some treasured aspects of British life but, more important, once smokers have been marginalised, other groups (those who enjoy alcohol, for example) will be targeted.

Discourage

One proposal is a ban on the display of tobacco in shops. This, we are told, will discourage children from smoking and it will encourage more smokers to quit. Ten-packs are also under threat, the belief being that prohibition will reduce tobacco consumption, especially in young people who – we are told – can only afford the smaller packet.

A third proposal is the introduction of a licensed retailer scheme which is designed to exercise even more control over retailers who already face enough red tape to finish off their business. Last but not least, tobacco vending machines will be banned. In future, and in theory, tobacco will only be available over, sorry, under the counter in a specially licensed shop. If only life was so easy …

In practise, these proposals are guaranteed to result in a thriving black market where counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes compete for customers in an uncontrolled environment.

Prohibited

Meanwhile such policies edge Britain closer to the point where tobacco is prohibited altogether. Some campaigners would like to take that giant leap now, but for the moment they’ll settle for the next best thing. It’s called “the next logical step” and it will be followed – if we allow it – by further restrictions including a ban on smoking in open-air arenas such as beaches and parks (which is already happening). After that smoking will be banned in cars and pressure will mount to prohibit smoking in the home.

Whether or not such oppressive intervention in the lives of consenting adults is justified depends on how much you believe your life is your own. What can’t be refuted is that there is little evidence to show that these policies actually work. Indeed they often appear to be counter productive to the stated aims.

Take the banning of cigarette displays in shops. In Iceland, where tobacco displays have been banned since 2001, there is no clear indication that the introduction of the display ban has helped lower teen smoking rates. In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the youth smoking rate increased from 27 to 29 percent in the first 18 months of a similar ban before it was overturned by a court decision. (It was later reinstated.)

Meanwhile, for all the hype surrounding the smoking ban in Ireland in 2004 (followed, in 2007, by a ban on the sale of 10-packs), the smoking rate in Ireland has increased by two per cent since 2002!

Hatred

Facts like these are ignored by anti-smoking zealots who are driven not by common sense but by their hatred of tobacco.

Still, why should non-smokers care? One reason is that many small shops rely on a limited range of products to survive. Target a product such as alcohol, tobacco or ready-made meals and they face financial ruin. Unlike supermarkets they have no room for manoeuvre, no wriggle room to make up sales elsewhere. By forcing tobacco sales under the counter – an expensive business for a small village shop – many smokers will pop down to the supermarket where they can select from a larger choice of brands.

Combine that with the effects of the public smoking ban, and many local pubs and shops that are currently the hub of community life may be pushed over the edge.

And for what? Faced with this relentless onslaught, cigarette smoking will become even more of a right of passage for youngsters. More than ever, smoking will become a symbol of rebellion or, in some eyes, maturity. Consumption won’t fall as a direct result of these latest proposals, it will just be displaced into the black market where there are few if any controls.

Threatened

The other threat to the majority of us who don’t smoke is that once these methods have been tried and tested, our own lifestyles will threatened. Soon campaigners will be demanding that stronger beers and spirits are also forced “out of sight, out of mind”.

The carcinogens in kippers, real or imaginary, the cholesterol in chicken jalfrezi or whatever else you fancy – fatty, smoked and salty foods – will be on the list. Already one MP has tried to ban cartoon characters from cereal packets. All for our own good, of course.

The government has a name for what is happening to smokers. It’s called denormalisation. Politicians and campaigners want to bully smokers into giving up a legal product. But why? Thanks to education and peer pressure, the smoking rate in Britain has been falling for decades without the need for heavy-handed policies that are designed not to educate but to punish and stigmatise those who choose to ignore conventional wisdom.

Eleven (or is twelve?) million smokers are voters, too. They deserve to be respected, not demonised, and it’s in all our interests to defend them against the overbearing weight of the bully state.

Brian Monteith is policy director of The Free Society