From 2004 in Ireland and from 2008 in the UK – with the 2006 smoke-free spaces act that passed parliament in 2007 – and from later dates around the rest of the world, smoking in public has been banned and smoking under a roof is against the law, incurring a large fine as if it was equivalent to driving through the red traffic light.
In order to financially punish indoor smoking, which is the same action from the same person in a different place, the law falsely claims that it is an offence, while smoking anywhere with no physical obstruction has no consequences, does not claim a victim and does not invoke the guilt of the individual doing so. This proves that smoking under a roof is not an offence but every person’s natural right. The exercise of this right is what is in effect being punished by the law, erroneously so, as if we live under a regime of the third world when you are in the UK.
Has smoking tobacco become another victimless crime of the state? It apparently has. Victimless crimes of the state are the trade and consumption of highly addictive drugs, not the legitimate trade and consumption of stimulants like tobacco, coffee or chocolate. But if one thinks that tobacco has been proven to be as addictive as heroin, we can then realise why its use under a roof has been banned and proclaimed to be an offence without being a real or organic one.
One can undoubtedly come to the conclusion that smoking has been banned on the basis of the assumption that tobacco is another drug like those whose consumption is against the law, and that that is why indoor smoking has been proclaimed to be against the law punishable by large fines and even imprisonment in the case of South Africa.
Indeed, politicians in their statements and during debates have been giving particular emphasis on the addictive nature of tobacco and the level of its influence describing it as leading to lack of agency and even the lack of freedom and independence. We seem to be living in an increasingly unfree and illiberal world where legitimate smoking of market cigarettes has ended up being confronted as substance misuse when that substance is tobacco because it is confronted by the same way by means of the law that applies, punishing the same innocent action with the punishment of the law that applies to actions that return consequences and victims, like driving through the red traffic light.
This is probably the sate proclaiming smoking tobacco as a victimless crime and punishing its indoor use like it has done with trading and consuming narcotic drugs, because tobacco is addictive and its repetitive use results in cancer and has been proven to be as addictive as heroin may be. Although tobacco is not a narcotic drug, it can be just as addictive, which is why its indoor use has been converted into another victimless crime of the state. So a guess or chances would be that we now have to live with that situation.
Bring Back Smoking Freedom 