Total smoking ban! First country submits bill
There are countries where children are allowed to smoke. Then there are countries that have raised the minimum age to 16 years. Germany has now arrived at a smoking ban under 18, some US states at 21 years.
To a country these little steps are too tedious. True to the motto: do not spill, but paddling, the first country wants to proceed from next year in decimal steps. So from 2020 smoking is only allowed from 30, 2021 then 40 years, 2022 from 50 years? and in 2024 another major leap is made and the minimum age for cigarette consumption is raised to a whopping 100 years. In fact, this would be a complete ban on smoking.
The world's hottest anti-smoking law
But which country dares this radical step and deals with so many citizens? Who dares the harshest anti-smoking law in the world? No other than the popular holiday destination Hawaii! The new state bill begins with the sentence: "Legislators say the cigarette is the deadliest artifact in human history. (...) Legislators also note that smoking killed 100 million people in the 20th century and is expected to kill one billion people in the 21st century. "
This shocking statement is the bill by Democratic MEP Richard Creagan? former emergency doctor and ex-smoker? probably clear the way. Currently, the minimum age for cigarettes in Hawaii is 21 years.
Cigarettes enslave people
Opposite the newspaper Hawaii Tribune-Herald Creagan says, "Basically, we have a group of heavily addicted people who, in my opinion, are enslaved by a ridiculously evil industry with the invention of a highly addictive cigarette." The cigarette is the "deadliest man-made object." Creagan wants to free all smokers from their enslavement, as USA Today reports.
Excluded from the law are e-cigarettes, cigars and smoke-free tobacco (eg chewing tobacco). Tourists should continue to fly cigarettes. The bill called HB 1509 is now being discussed in the Hawaiian parliament.
The leading cigarette producer Philip Morris has yet to comment on the bill. Skeptics expect considerable resistance from the tobacco industry.
Video tip: Cigarettes should be so expensive because of the consequential costs
