Banning cig displays in shops

I heard on the news yesterday that in England and Wales they are looking to ban the display of cigs behind shop counters, they will (in around 2013) soon need to be kept hidden, to stop younger people taking it up. They already do something like this in Scotland. I have 2 problems with it and I'd like to ask the smokers here 2 questions :

When you got started, what made you?
- Almost everyone I know got started via peer pressure. I know no one who went into a shop, seen the smokes and thought "Hey, I think I will try smoking".

Have you ever went into a shop to get something non smoke related, then got to the counter, seen the smokes and thought "I wasn't going to but now that I see them, I will have some smokes too"?
- Everyone I know who goes to a shop and comes out with a pack of smokes went to the shop with the main goal of buying smokes. If you have smokes, you don't buy em, unless you think you will run out soon. If you don't you buy em.

The government say other countries who do this have seen the rates of young smokers drop by 10%. Therefore a casual relationship must exist (which I'd like to know more about). However these are British teenagers, who are by far and a way the worst in Europe. And unless we do things differently where I come from, I see no reason for this move to ban the display, I fail to see how it will acheive the desired result.

Agreed. The 10% drop is more likely to be coincidence than anything else. Most of the teenage smoking statistic is made up by underage smokers who cant very well walk into a shop and buy smokes anyhow.

I know I started because of peer pressure, I mean they weren't like "Hey man, you have to do this!". I rode in a small car with 3 other guys that smoked, and I eventually gave in a started. Four years later I'm still doing it, and it's definately not because I've seen advertisements, or the cigarettes themselves, in stores. As far as going into a store and seeing them, I have remembered that I needed them, because I've almost forgot, or because I was about to run out soon. As far as going to the store for something else and buying them just because they were there, no.

They instituted this in Ontario several months ago. To be honest, I think it's effect is more one of subtlety. When they allowed television commercials urging people to smoke, people thought it was normal. To allow a display of cigarettes is a tacit endorsement saying 'smoking is ok' and this is a message delivered to people of every age. I think it's long-term effect will be the same as putting all the impulse buying items right beside the cashier - not everyone is going to do it, but enough people are affected by it to maintain the practice.

Even as a smoker, it didn't bother except that I couldn't visually browse what kinds of smokes they had, but this isn't a particularly great loss.

I started because I thought it was cool.

But I don't see what your two problems are, and it isn't a big deal.

I like how they're putting scary pictures on the fag packet wrappers now.

1. I started smoking because it helped calm me down. I picked it up from my father.
2. I only buy cigarettes if I'm out or about to run out.

If I lived in a country with socialized medicine I would want the sale of cigarettes banned outright, nevermind hidden from sight.

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Originally Posted by gismo

When you got started, what made you?

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Well, I started smoking pot when I lived in Australia. Mostly we smoked spliffs, which got me smoking relatively large amounts of tobacco (most people I knew at the time rolled a spliff 50/50, sometimes with more tobacco than pot - cheap fucking teenagers). This wasn't enough on its own to get me smoking, though. What really did it was the HSC I was studying for. I was stressed out - for anyone not from Australia, the HSC is basically finals, but the total score you get determines which universities you can go to and what you can study there. I'd slacked most of the year, so I was in a panic. Someone had left a pack of smokes at my house, and when I started having a panic attack, my stepbrother suggested I try smoking a cigarette to calm down. I smoked about six that night, and I was done for. Then I started smoking my dad's cigarettes whenever I was stressed. Eventually, I started buying my own packs. Five years later, I'm still smoking (though I plan to quit for New Years - wish me luck).

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Originally Posted by gismo

Have you ever went into a shop to get something non smoke related, then got to the counter, seen the smokes and thought "I wasn't going to but now that I see them, I will have some smokes too"?

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No, not now that I'm a real smoker. But actually, in the very beginning, yeah. I wasn't quite used to buying cigarettes, so the displays were a reminder. Of course, I don't think this is why I got addicted. The law is a little silly - I think smoking bans are retarded when they're forced on property owners and I think that forcing businesses to hide legal merchandise is retarded as well. If we really didn't want people to smoke, we'd ban tobacco use altogether. Unfortunately, it makes a little too much money.

Why does it matter if they are visible or not. It is either deterring people from buying cigs or its not changing anything. How could that be a bad thing? Also i agree with atmosfear about the ban on smoking except I would want it in any country. I've been in the process of quitting smoking and I can't wait till it's gone. Such a addictive harmful profuct shouldn't even be able to be bought at stores(but not illegal).

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Originally Posted by Killuminati

Why does it matter if they are visible or not. It is either deterring people from buying cigs or its not changing anything. How could that be a bad thing? Also i agree with atmosfear about the ban on smoking except I would want it in any country. I've been in the process of quitting smoking and I can't wait till it's gone. Such a addictive harmful profuct shouldn't even be able to be bought at stores(but not illegal).

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Newsflash: it won't go. It brings in too much money.

I started at age 16 when I saw all my friends smoking. I didn't want to feel left out, and I somehow continued that habit until I was of legal age. Have tried to quit several times, but right now I can't be bothered to stop.

I know plenty of people who started smoking through peer pressure but that just never happened with me. I always resisted trying it. i actually smoked weed first (never got into that heavily either) when I was about 17. I was 18 when I first smoked a cigarette. It was a nice addition to a night out in the clubs (you could smoke indoors then). I then decided that I wouldn't turn it down if a hot girl offered me one. I smoked on/off till about a year ago when I just decided to stop. Haven't smoked since.

And people say quitting is hard...

I will sometimes smoke a cigarette if I'm at a bar and everyone else is going outside for one, but I never inhale. I enjoy the social aspects of it much more than the chemical.

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Originally Posted by simonj

Newsflash: it won't go. It brings in too much money.

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No shit, I didn't say it was going to be made illegal just that it should.

My grandpa used to give me cigarettes when I was 5. When my mother found out, I wasn't allowed to hang out with grandpa anymore. Later, they found out he wasn't really my grandpa, biologically. He was just an old man at a park that gave kids cigarettes. We called him "Cigarette Jim" even though his name was Anthony. Sometimes, he would get mad an sputter at us. The other week, I found out he had been set on fire by "Arsonist Bill" (real name Theodore).